PHILADELPHIA — It’ll go down in the schedule as a win, a 136-121 result that snapped the Nets’ nine-game losing streak — four in the postseason sweep last year, five others in the regular season — against the 76ers and gave them three wins in a four-game stretch that maybe, just maybe, could spark something.
The context is important, though. Philadelphia didn’t have starters Joel Embiid, De’Anthony Melton, Tobias Harris and Nicolas Batum, and its patchwork lineup fell behind by 25 just four minutes into the second quarter. But at this juncture of the Nets’ season, amid a brutal eight-game stretch — with six games against teams either holding a top-six spot or, at the very least, one that’d lead to a play-in tournament berth — that ends with the All-Star break, they’ll take a win, and that’s what Cam Thomas (40 points) and Mikal Bridges (23 points) helped deliver for them at Wells Fargo Center.
With Embiid out, Saturday marked the Nets’ chance to steal a win this year against the 76ers.
He dropped 32 points in their first matchup of the 2023-24 campaign, and the reigning MVP had established himself as a candidate to win that award again.
Instead, Philadelphia’s offense revolved around guard Tyrese Maxey — in the middle of a career-best season, averaging 26.3 points and earning his first All-Star appearance. Head coach Jacque Vaughn expected that approach, too.
The 76ers could add tempo without Embiid. Maxey could play with more “freedom,” he said Friday, and that added a layer to the Nets’ challenge.
“It’s just more opportunities he’s gonna have with the basketball in his hands, and that’s a lethal combination because you have to react to him,” Vaughn said Friday. “And if he’s making 3s, that takes the responsibility to another level.”
Maxey (23 points) finished with 16 in the first half, but the Nets countered with a balanced offense. Ben Simmons, in his return from a one-game absence due to a left knee contusion, dished out five assists and grabbed nine rebounds.
Nic Claxton grabbed 10 rebounds in the first 15 minutes, too.
After Simmons checked in for the first time, the Nets used a 10-0 run to take an early lead, and after Walker drained a 3-pointer and Simmons dished a pass to him in transition, Brooklyn pulled ahead by 13.
There were still moments when the 76ers threatened to make a run, with Maxey and the replacements in the starting lineup trimming the deficit to 16 by halftime.
But Thomas almost single-handedly iced the game in the third quarter, alternating 2s, 3s and free throws en route to a 21-point frame to secure his fifth consecutive game with at least 25 points.
This time, the Nets protected a 20-point lead in the final frame, too.
They’ve made their margin of error extremely thin ahead of the All-Star break and trade deadline.
Their roster could look different by this time next week, too, after the Feb. 8 finish line arrives and everything — the draft picks, the moving players, the pieces staying and inheriting different roles — settles into place.
There are few constants about the Nets’ long-term blueprint.
Part of that stems from their short-term one not being consistently effective, fading with a loss just as wins start to string together. Saturday could’ve been the latest example with an all-too-familiar result against an all-too-familiar opponent.
The Nets avoided a trap. And that, for now, could mark progress.
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