GRADES: Brooklyn Nets 122, Philadelphia 76ers 109
By Sam Coltrane
The Philadelphia 76ers’ five-game win streak came to an end Thursday night.
The Philadelphia 76ers struggled on the road versus a Brooklyn Nets team without either of their superstars, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Philadelphia started Shake Milton in place of Seth Curry, who is out with a pestering ankle injury.
Brooklyn jumped out to a quick start as they took a 17-5 lead nearly halfway through the quarter courtesy of a Jarrett Allen dunk. After that, Philadelphia went on their run.
Milton went on to score nine points in the quarter during his start as Philadelphia clawed back through the quarter to only be trailing 26-28.
The second quarter was back and forth with rookie guard Tyrese Maxey starting out effective for Philadelphia until Joe Harris exploded for Brooklyn scoring 10 points in only 1:23 of game time. He would stretch the Brooklyn lead to 38-34.
From there, Brooklyn never trailed again. Heading to the locker room, the score was 51-65.
The second half started out fast-paced with Philadelphia working tempo in their pursuit to close the lead. The lead shrunk to as little as eight points, but eventually, quite ceremoniously, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot hit back-to-back threes to stretch the lead back to 85-70, Brooklyn.
The lead was only 10 entering the fourth quarter, but it never felt close. For the most part, Philadelphia was able to get run with Milton. Otherwise, it was a fairly back-and-forth quarter that started with a nearly 15-point deficit.
All of that being true, Philadelphia did do one interesting thing early in the fourth quarter tonight. Ben Simmons was the center on the floor. He defended DeAndre Jordan and held his own with rebounding. Simmons at center lineups make for an interesting dynamic.
Ultimtely, time dwindled away as Brooklyn won the game 122-109.
TOBIAS HARRIS. B. <strong>34 mins | 17 pts | 8 reb | 4 ast | 1 stl | 0 blk | 4 TO | 7-16 FG | 1-4 3PT| 2-2 FT | 5 PF | -19 |</strong><p>No one is going to receive exceptional marks. The team got genuinely outplayed for nearly the whole game by a team missing their two superstars. Harris did score efficiently and play to his usual performance. A solid game in an otherwise bleak affair.</p>. PF. Philadelphia 76ers
C. Philadelphia 76ers. JOEL EMBIID. B-. <strong>30 mins | 20 pts | 12 reb | 3 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 5 TO | 7-14 FG | 2-2 3PT| 4-5 FT | 5 PF | -20 |</strong><p>A 20-10 double-double resulting in anything below a B is a testament to Embiid’s status in the game. He was still the best player on the floor and stood out, but he didn’t take over the game despite several occasions to demand the spotlight.</p>
C-. <strong>32 mins | 11 pts | 4 reb | 2 ast | 2 stl | 1 blk | 5 TO | 4-13 FG | 0-1 3PT| 3-4 FT | 4 PF | -22 |</strong><p>Five turnovers, two assists, 13 shots to score 11 points. All-stars, stars, and superstars. All-stars are great players. They have strong averages, lead teams, and are capable of the spectacular. Superstars bring the spectacular every night. Nights like these must make an impatient Morey ponder. He did attempt a three-point shot, though. That bumped him to a C-. Baby steps.</p>. PG. Philadelphia 76ers. BEN SIMMONS
SG. Philadelphia 76ers. SHAKE MILTON. B+. <strong>36 mins | 24 pts | 1 reb | 7 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 3 TO | 8-13 FG | 1-4 3PT| 7-7 FT | 0 PF | -14 |</strong><p>Milton got the opportunity to start and he certainly performed his part. I have been clamoring for Green to come off the bench, and Milton might push someone’s hand with these types of games. His ability to generate offense at this rate is going to prove too tantalizing not to give further exploration.</p>
TYRESE MAXEY. B+. <strong>21 mins | 16 pts | 3 reb | 2 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 0 TO | 7-12 FG | 2-4 3PT| 0-0 FT | 0 PF | +7 |</strong><p>I didn’t want to go B+, it felt high in a bad team game. The result of the game wasn’t on Maxey, squarely. He chipped in 16 points, a couple rebounds and assists, and all while shooting efficiently. It was a solid performance that should earn him more minutes.</p>. PG. Philadelphia 76ers
Tomorrow, Brooklyn will travel to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies in a back-to-back.
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Philadelphia will next take the court Friday at home against the Denver Nuggets as they look to stay unbeaten at home in the young season. The game will feature a must-see matchup of early MVP favorite big men in Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.