The Brooklyn Nets started slow, rallied, and ultimately fell short against an undermanned 76ers team last night in Philadelphia by a score of 113-98. The Sixers, without Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Kyle Lowry, also had a minutes restriction placed on star guard Tyrese Maxey, making the defeat that much more disappointing. Brooklyn, now 6-10 on the year, still had some positives to take away from the performance, but there were also some reasons for concern.
Cameron Johnson turns in another sensational performance
Johnson followed up his 34-point performance against Charlotte with a 37-point outburst against Philadelphia last night, finishing just one point shy of his career-high. He was on fire from every level, finishing the game shooting 14-21 overall and 9-13 from downtown.
Johnson has mostly been known as a 3-and-D role player throughout his career, specializing on catch-and-shoot looks from the corner and the wing. However this season, he’s taken his game to new levels and the performance against the Sixers was just another example of that.
Rather than sit in the corner and wait for the ball to come to him, Johnson got his shot off in many different ways. Whether it was an above-the-break three in transition, a step-back look from deep, making hard cuts and attacking close-outs, or even the occasional iso-drive, Johnson was finding ways to score.
On the season, he’s now averaging 19.3 points per game and has nearly reached the coveted 50/40/90 shooting splits mark, sitting at 49.8% from the field, 42.3% from deep, and 91.8% from the line. He seems to have emerged this season as a true secondary scorer, a role he struggled in last year with the Mikal Bridges-led Nets.
If his performance holds throughout the season, he may make a strong case to win the NBA’s Most Improved Player award.
The Nets’ lack of true point guards proved to be an issue
The Nets essentially have one true point guard on their roster, Dennis Schroder. Sure, earlier in his career Ben Simmons was also designated as a point guard, but these days after all his injuries he plays the game more as a pass-first forward. Beyond Schroder, the Nets have a few combo guards in Cam Thomas and the seldom-used Keon Johnson and Shake Milton.
This lack of depth reared its head in two ways last night. First, the Nets contributed an egregious amount of turnovers, losing that battle 19 to 12 while conceding 28 points to Philly while generating just 12 of their own. Schroder himself was not great tallying 7 turnovers to offset his 7 assists, and Thomas also tallied the same 7 assist and 7 turnover performance.
Secondly, without a reliable offensive initiator beyond Schroder to penetrate the defense, the Nets struggled to consistently pressure the Philadelphia defense and get to the free-throw line. Brooklyn did not record their first free-throw attempts until 2:23 left in the second quarter and finished the game with a paltry 7 attempts compared to 20 for the Sixers.
While many look ahead to the trade deadline for the Nets to trade away some of their veteran forwards for draft picks, the Nets who already own a treasure trove of draft assets over the next five years might be better served exploring a trade that brings them back a young guard with potential to give Schroder some help.
Nic Claxton returns, Day’Ron Sharpe does not
The Nets’ wing-heavy roster has also created issues for the team at points this season, although reinforcements are already on the roster. Center Nic Claxton returned to action in a limited role off the bench last night with a solid performance, scoring 12 points and grabbing 8 boards in 22 minutes of action also chipping in 3 assists along the way.
On the other hand, despite early reports that he might play, the Nets were still without their other primary big Day’Ron Sharpe. The 23-year-old has yet to make his season debut, though recent updates indicate that he will be returning the action soon.
Brooklyn will need both bigs playing prominent roles to offset their struggles on the boards. Even without Embiid, the combo of Andre Drummond and Guerschon Yabusele led the charge for Philly on the glass as the Sixers outrebounded the Nets 40-34 overall and 15-7 on the offensive glass.
Ben Simmons disappears against his former team
Simmons was serenaded by a chorus of boos every time he touched the basketball last night. Coming off his best game of the season against Charlotte, the former number-one overall pick was nowhere to be found against his former team, scoring just 2 points and chipping in 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
Overall, he was a minus-20 plus/minus on the night, continuing his trend of hurting the team through passivity and ineffective play. One can only hope that as Brooklyn’s roster heals the dosage of Ben Simmons fans are subjected to will drastically decrease.
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Up next for Brooklyn
The Nets embark on a West Coast road trip starting on Sunday in Sacramento to take on the Kings. At 8-8, the Kings currently hold the fifth seed in the competitive Western Conference. It will be a tough matchup for Brooklyn as they’ll look to contain Sacramento’s star guard De’Aron Fox, currently sixth in the league in scoring at 28.8 points per game.
Perhaps even more troublesome for Brooklyn is Kings’ big man Domantas Sabonis who is scoring 20.4 points per game to go along with 12.7 rebounds per game. The 28-year-old led the NBA in rebounding last season and his inside-outside game could prove to be a tough cover for Brooklyn’s battered big-man rotation.
