The Philadelphia 76ers will look to break out the brooms this afternoon in Brooklyn as they attempt to close out the first round of the NBA playoffs with a series sweep of the Nets. 

Last night, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that Joel Embiid received an MRI on his right knee, revealing a knee sprain. Embiid will be OUT for today’s game, but the team is “optimistic” he’ll be ready to play early next week. 

Honestly though, injured or not injured, why would Joel Embiid play today?

The Brooklyn Nets can’t hang with the Sixers and after their head coach literally told his teammates to play dirty and hurt Embiid last game, there’s really no point in playing him until the next round of the playoffs anyways. 

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Hopefully, that’s what the Sixers and Embiid are thinking today and just want to be extra precautionary against a Brooklyn Nets team that doesn’t stand a chance in winning this series. 

To Be Clear: This Nets team, guided by war criminal Jacque Vaughn, has nothing left to offer in the playoffs. After failing to slow down Joel Embiid over the first two games of the series, Vaughn said this ahead of Game 3.

“You got to hit somebody. If you want to win, you’ll hit somebody…step into the octagon and you’re not ready, you get knocked out.”

Right. So what happened from there?

Well, Game 3 turned out to be an absolute mess, and it was constructed to be that way from Jacque Vaughn. 

That resulted Nic Claxton attempting to stand overtop Embiid in the first two minutes of the game and Embiid “kicking” the Nets center and rightfully so.

Either way, despite a third quarter run by the Nets and ejections to both James Harden and Nic Claxton, the Sixers were able to earn a messy win to take a 3-0 series lead. 

Highlights: Sixers vs. Nets | Game 3 | 04.20.23

Paul Reed will obviously need to step up today against the Nets and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see PJ Tucker at center throughout the game too. Outside of that, I wouldn’t be opposed in putting Montrezl Harrell at center in limited minutes, especially if the Brooklyn Nets want to get tough under the basket. 

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As we all know, Harrell doesn’t play those types of games and could provide that spark and toughness to keep the Nets contained this afternoon. 

Offensively, it’s going to be a lot of Tyrese Maxey, who rose to the occasion in Game 3, leading the Sixers with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the floor and 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. 

James Harden, before getting ejected, also played well in Game 3, scoring 21 points while shooting 8-of-15 from the floor. I would expect Tobias Harris to also step up today after yet another strong performance in Game 3 where he scored 15 points with seven rebounds. 

Philadelphia 76ers at Brooklyn Nets – Game 4

Prediction: Sixers -2 | Over 208.5

Again, I really believe that the Philadelphia 76ers can beat the Brooklyn Nets in Game 4 without Joel Embiid.

When you have a team that some (me) are calling “Record Merchants” enter the playoffs based on standings that they earned with players like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the team, then really they shouldn’t even be here in the first place.

Then, when they play like they did in Game 3 with their head coach embarrassing the entire organization, it’s clear as day that the Brooklyn Nets are not a serious basketball team.

Sixers Player Props

• James Harden: 20+ Points (-250)
• Tobias Harris: 20+ Points (+150)
• Tyrese Maxey: 25+ Points (-125)
• Tobias Harris 8+ Rebounds (+110)
• James Harden 6+ Rebounds (-170)

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