76ers-Nets game has playoff implications
There will be a lot on the line Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
The winner of the Nets-76ers game secures the head-to-head tiebreaker since this will be the last regular-season meeting and the teams split the first two contests.
The Sixers and Nets are both 37-17 heading into their showdown for first place in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 18 games remaining. The third-place Milwaukee Bucks trailed the Sixers by 3 ½ games.
“Walking into this interview, I did not know we were playing Brooklyn [next],” said Sixers coach Doc Rivers following Monday’s 113-95 road victory over the Dallas Mavericks. “I’m a one-game-ata-time guy. … But it’ll be a big game — a fun game for both teams. We’ll see what happens.”
Here are the factors that will determine who earns the top seed, which would mean home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs:
Stars’ health matters
Just like the previous two games, Brooklyn will be shorthanded. James Harden will be out with a strained right hamstring and Kyrie Irving’s status is unclear after missing Tuesday’s 127-97 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves for personal reasons. Irving wasn’t available in the first two Nets-Sixers games this season.
The Nets, like the Sixers with Joel Embiid, have been far more successful
with Harden than without him. They are 10-10 when Harden doesn’t play and 27-7 when he does.
Meanwhile, the Sixers are 9-9 when Embiid doesn’t play and 28-8 when he does.
Durant’s impact
Kevin Durant is expected to face the Sixers for the first time this season Wednesday. Given his size and ability to shoot from the perimeter, Durant is an incredibly difficult matchup.
Durant scored 39 points in 43 minutes during his first two games back after being sidelined 22 games due to a hamstring injury. He followed that with 31 points in the win over Minnesota.
The Sixers happen to have one of the few defenders with the skill set and length capable of preventing Durant from dominating in Ben Simmons.
Simmons’ numbers against top scorers such as the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic are impressive. Doncic was just 3 of 9 from the field with five turnovers when guarded by Simmons on Feb. 26 in Philadelphia, according to nba.com, and 3 for 5 with 8 points on 18 possessions vs. Simmons on Monday evening in Dallas.
“I love guarding the best player each night,” Simmons said late Monday. “I take pride in that. … I want to be a clear-cut No. 1 defender in the league — I don’t want to be second or third. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Simmons is the Sixers’ best matchup for Durant and Harden, so Harden not playing should allow Danny Green and reserve Matisse Thybulle to share duties on Irving if Irving is available.
Strength of schedule
Heading into Tuesday’s game, the Nets’ remaining schedule was the 11th-toughest in the league with their opponents possessing a .507 winning percentage, while the Sixers’ slate is the 17th-toughest (.490).
Only seven of Philadelphia’s 18 games are on the road, compared to 11 more road dates for Brooklyn.
Can Simmons keep defenses honest?
Prior to his eight made field goals and one turnover in Saturday’s road win over the Thunder and Monday’s victory over the Mavs, Simmons had more turnovers (28) than field goals (27) in the previous eight games
Whether they’re facing the Nets, Friday’s foe — the Clippers — or any team, the Sixers need Simmons to look for his shot more to prevent opponents from constantly double-teaming Embiid.
“He’s a playmaker and he wants to be a playmaker — he wants to get everybody involved,” Embiid said after Saturday’s game. “But at times you also need to be aggressive and make the guys on the other team guard [you].”
Impact of 3-point specialists
The Nets’ Joe Harris and the Sixers’ Seth Curry are the primary floor-spacers for their respective teams. The better they shoot, the more dangerous their teams are in the half-court offense.
Harris is shooting .478 from 3-point range this season, which is third-best in the league. He’s averaging 21 points in the first two games vs. the Sixers, having hit 8 of 12 (.667) from behind the arc.
Curry, whose 3-point percentage is .411, had 11 points (2 for 3 on 3-pointers) in a Feb. 6 home victory over the Nets but tested positive for COVID-19 and missed a Jan. 7 road loss.
There are other factors, such as the impact of late-season additions LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin on the Nets and George Hill with the Sixers. Aldridge and Griffin have appeared in five and eight games for Brooklyn, while Hill has yet to play in Philadelphia following Feb. 2 surgery on his right thumb.
Throw it all into a blender, turn the machine on and wait to see if it’s the Sixers or Nets that end up winning the East.