The Philadelphia 76ers turned garbage into gold, coming back from a large deficit to beat the Brooklyn Nets on the road.
THAT IS WHY YOU TRADE FOR JIMMY BUTLER.
The Philadelphia 76ers struggled for most of the night in Brooklyn, but a spirited fourth-quarter comeback was enough to get the job done. Jimmy Butler led the way, asserting himself down the stretch.
In the first half, the Sixers were stagnant, inducing flashbacks to Friday’s game against Cleveland. The Nets ran rampant, with both D’Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie gashing the perimeter’ defense. Containing guards off the dribble has been an issue for Brett Brown’s squad.
While the end was thrilling, there were several negative takeaways from this contest. Kemba Walker, Collin Sexton and D’Angelo Russell all scoring career-highs agains the Sixers isn’t a coincidence.
Aside from Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Butler, the Sixers need more quality defenders. J.J. Redick, Landry Shamet and Furkan Korkmaz are subpar. Mike Muscala and Wilson Chandler aren’t faring well on switches at the moment.
Teams with quality isolation threats will continue to pound the Sixers. In the postseason, when Boston or Toronto comes to town, that won’t bode well.
The Nets rode Russell’s hot hand in the first quarter, pulling out to a 32-25 lead as the Sixers struggled to establish rhythm on offense. The second quarter was even worse, with Dinwiddie getting warm and the lead ballooning to 20 at one point.
Joel Embiid was able to create some havoc around the rim, but the Sixers’ offense was largely ineffective. Simmons struggled to score at the rim and Butler, early on, wasn’t involved nearly enough in the offense.
The Sixers shot 36.7 percent from the field and 23.5 percent from deep in the first half, leading to a 14-point halftime deficit. If it weren’t for late triples from Landry Shamet and Wilson Chandler, the lead would have been bigger.
Philadelphia generated some more bright spots in the third quarter, but Brooklyn was able to stem the tide every time the Sixers made a run. Russell and Dinwiddie were trading blows all night, scoring 38 and 31, respectively.
Landry Shamet was an underlying positive in the first three frames, scoring a career-high 16 points before being phased out in the fourth. He was perfect from deep, trimming the Nets’ lead to single digits late in the third with an impressive triple.
Naturally, the lead would expand back to 16 after some timely buckets from the Brooklyn guards, including a buzzer-beating floater from Dinwiddie
The fourth quarter was quite the ride, with both sides putting together admirable performances. Russell started the quarter hot, hitting several tough shots. Dinwiddie would soon check in and do the same.
As the quarter progressed, however, the Sixers were able to make up ground. Butler began to take over, becoming more involved in the offense down the stretch. He’s one of the league’s best fourth-quarter scorers, and the Sixers should emphasize that every night.
Butler scored 18 of his 34 points in the final frame, including 7/7 from the field and 4/4 from deep. He was in full control, once again reminding fans why the Sixers gave up two starting-caliber pieces to get him.
The final minutes were insane, with Redick hitting an off-balance shot to give the Sixers a one-point lead with 1:03 left. Joe Harris would answer with a triple on the other end, only for Embiid to come down and complete an and-one the next possession. Harris was the one who fouled him.
With 26.5 seconds left, Dinwiddie comfortably nailed a pull-up jumper to put the Nets up one. Pure mayhem broke out afterward.
Out of a timeout, the initial action left Redick with an open shot curling around a screen. He missed, with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson pulling down the rebound. Butler fought his way into the scrum, though, diving onto the ground and forcing a jump ball.
Butler won the jump, giving the Sixers possession with 10.2 seconds left. Brown called a timeout, but the plan was simple: get Butler the ball and clear out.
Simmons inbounded the ball to Butler, who patiently dribbled into a step-back three with 0.4 seconds left. In similar fashion to his game-winner against Charlotte, it was all net.
https://twitter.com/FanSided/status/1066868183330512897
The Sixers won 127-125.
One can question Butler’s shot selection, but that’s why the Sixers traded for him — to get a bona fide bucket-getter late in games. The Sixers are now 14-8 on the season, nabbing their fourth road win of the campaign.