PHILADELPHIA — No answers.
On Saturday, the Brooklyn Nets had no answers for the 76ers’ balance and depth. So the Sixers took a 121-101 victory in Game 1 of the first-round series at the Wells Fargo Center.
Joel Embiid had 26 points while going 11 for 11 from the foul line. The MVP finalist also had five rebounds, three assists and two blocks. James Harden had 23 points, 13 assists and four rebounds. Tobias Harris added 21 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Meanwhile, reserve center Paul Reed added 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting to go with four rebounds. Sixers fans chanted “B-Ball Paul ... B-Ball Paul,” as Reed made a foul shot to complete a three-point play with 8 minutes, 1 second remaining to give the Sixers a commanding 20-cushion.
In all, the Sixers played 10 players — all in the first half. Nine of the 10 players scored. And even that’s misleading, considering Danuel House Jr., the player who didn’t score, was only in for eight seconds in the first quarter.
Up 23 points, the Sixers started emptying the bench with 3:22 to play.
The Sixers made 21 of 43 3-pointers and were 16 for 16 from the foul line. They also scored 31 points off 20 Brooklyn turnovers.
Brooklyn’s Mikal Bridges, a Philly native and former Villanova star, led all scorers with 30 points. But the Nets must find a way to overcome the Sixers’ balance if they expect to win Monday’s Game 2 matchup (6:30 p.m., TNT).
The Sixers’ dominance was far from surprising for Brooklyn.
“It really is two contrasting styles, how they want to play and how we want,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said before the game. “So who’s going to be able to impose their will? In an ideal world, they shoot a ton of free throws, and they would play in the halfcourt and James would play pick-and-roll and destroy us that way. We don’t want to play that way. We want to be very scrappy, gritty, turn this game into more up and down and see who can survive the pace.”
The problem is the Sixers played at the Nets pace and won.
Vintage Harden
For the Sixers to be successful, Harden has to know when to be facilitator and when to look for his own shot.
While he started off a little shaky, he ended up figuring things out. Twelve of his points came while making 4 of 5 stepback 3-pointers in the second quarter. Harden made his first four 3s in the quarter. He even scored the Sixers’ final nine points of the half by making 3s.
Sixers bench
The Sixers’ bench was a major question mark heading into the postseason.
Would De’Anthony Melton struggle in the postseason like he did with the Memphis Grizzlies? Would Georges Niang become a defensive liability? And would the moment be too big for Jalen McDaniels, who is competing his first playoff series?
With at least three games remaining in this best-of-seven series, it’s too early to get the full answer to those questions.
But the Sixers reserves are off to get a start.
They actually gave the Sixers a spark in the first half.
Melton was the first guy off the bench, subbing out Harden during a timeout with 5 minutes, 43 seconds left in the first quarter. Then Niang and McDaniels checked in for Harris and P.J. Tucker at the 4:04 mark.
In all, the Sixers played 10 different players in the first half. And for a while, the reserves played better than the Sixers starters. Not bad, considering the team struggled late in the regular season when Embiid was off the floor.
But Melton, McDaniels and Niang all hit clutch 3s during one stretch. Reed added two clutch baskets. And the Sixers won non-Embiid minutes in the first half. They outscored Brooklyn, 17-15, while Embiid was on the bench.
