The Brooklyn Nets may need another plan for Game 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“One thing I think they will do is go downhill and challenge [Joel Embiid] more,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said, per Sam DiGiovanni of Clutch Points. “They made the choice last night of going halfway and throwing. I think they’ll challenge him more.”
Embiid dominated Game 1 despite not putting up huge numbers finishing with 26 points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and one steal.
He did not shoot the ball well – just 46.7% from the floor and 1-for-4 from beyond the arc – and Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn was adamant that there were more than a few missed traveling calls against the big man. But his ability to defend may have been just as key, even against the Nets’ leading scorer, Mikal Bridges.
Mikal Bridges calls for the isolation against Joel Embiid and Joel Embiid says GTFO
Bridges scored 23 of his 30 points in the first half, getting held to just two field goal attempts in the second half.
“We let him get comfortable,” Embiid told reporters during his postgame press conference on NBA.com on April 15. “Everything he was getting he was getting downhill. He was getting a bunch of pull-up jumpers. It’s not easy being the star, being the main guy. So, once we saw that, we just doubled him, got the ball out of his hands and it worked out pretty well for us.”
Not Net scored double-digits after the break when Embiid scored 14 of his points.
“Bridges was destroying us,” Rivers said during his postgame availability. “The first half for him, it was like being on the beach…Second half, we double-teamed him a lot more. We got the ball out of his hands, and I thought that was effective.”
P.J. Tucker Sends Strong Message on Nets
Nets forward Cameron Johnson called out his team’s inability to crash the boards effectively which resulted in Philly putting up 19 more shot attempts. He cited a need to be more solid defensively to help their offense while name-dropping Sixers’ forward P.J. Tucker.
“If they’re going to double[-team Embiid], the glass is open,” Tucker said, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “You’ve got to be aggressive. That’s one of the faults of doubling, not being able to rebound out of it. But a lot of times, I have guys on me that can’t stop me from getting rebounds
“So getting extra possessions, there’s going to be games where we’re going to need them. When we are not scoring, it’s good to get extra shots at the basket. It changes the game.”
Tucker had seven rebounds and five steals to go with his six points on the night.
The Nets Are Losing The Numbers Game
Teams that win Game 1 in the current playoff format (2-2-1-1-1) have gone on to win the series 75% of the time, per EJ Stewart of the “Orange and Blue Bloods” podcast, meaning the Nets are already in a seemingly insurmountable hole. But things could get even worse should they drop Game 2.
Just 7.2% of teams that have fallen into a 0-2 hole have ever come back to advance to the next round, per Land Of Basketball.
Already 0-5 against Philadelphia including the regular season, Brooklyn is in a tough spot.
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Sixers’ Doc Rivers Makes Prediction About Nets, Jacque Vaughn