All Joel Embiid may just give the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday was once encouragement.
The NBA’s main scorer and MVP finalist could not play as a result of a sprained proper knee, however nonetheless supplied a presence for his workforce.
“It starts with Joel,” guard Tyrese Maxey mentioned. “He’s the leader of this team and for him, he takes the guys before the game and he told us good luck and we appreciate him for that. And we need him to get healthy.
The 76ers bought him plenty of time to do that.
Tobias Harris had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and the 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets 96-88 to complete a sweep and become the first team to reach the second round of the playoffs.
James Harden added 17 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the third-seeded 76ers, who will await the winner of the series between the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks. The defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics have a 2–1 lead.
By sweeping a seven-game series for the first time since beating Milwaukee in 1985, the 76ers ensured that Embiid would have at least a week to recover before they play again.
“Obviously, today was big for us so we can get Big Fella healthy,” Harden said. “That’s priority No. 1.”
The Sixers became to their protection with out him and ended up outscoring the Nets 21–4 right through a stretch of greater than 8 mins within the 3rd quarter.
Maxey completed a powerful sequence with 16 issues and Paul Reed added 10 issues and 15 rebounds after changing Embiid within the beginning lineup.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 20 issues and Nic Claxton had 19 issues and 12 rebounds for the Nets, who have been swept for the second one directly yr and feature misplaced 10 directly postseason video games. They went 0-8 this season towards the 76ers.
Embiid went to the locker room early in Game 3 and was once limping a pair occasions later within the sport, however had a blocked shot to maintain a two-point lead with 8.8 seconds left and mentioned later on he was once OK. But trainer Doc Rivers mentioned Embiid was once complaining of soreness at the back of his knee and already had swelling in a while after the sport. An MRI examination printed the sprain.
Dorian Finney-Smith’s three-pointer two mins into the 3rd quarter made it 53–42, matching the Nets’ greatest lead of the sport. But Harden and PJ Tucker hit consecutive threes to get the Sixers began on what become a 14–0 run that made it 56–53 on Reed’s basket.
Maxey’s three-pointer prolonged it to 63–57 with 1:49 final within the duration, capping the Nets’ long drought that will have appeared unattainable when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have been in Brooklyn. They have been each dealt at midseason, and this workforce went down simply as temporarily as the only the duo led final season, when Brooklyn was once additionally the primary workforce eradicated upon getting swept by way of Boston.
“I told them they should feel extremely proud when they walk around the borough of Brooklyn,” trainer Jacque Vaughn mentioned. “The means that we competed, we did not make excuses this yr. We found out the right way to keep in combination. That locker room was once in combination even till the top of the sport.”
Embiid averaged only 20 points in the series, 13 below his NBA-leading average of 33.1, as the Nets heavily double-teamed him.
But those double-teams were leaving open looks for their guards that weren’t available Saturday, and the Sixers were just 2 for 11 from three-point range in the first half as the Nets led 48-40.
But the 76ers restricted them to 40 issues in the second one part and ultimately pulled away to a 14-point lead because the cheers of the Sixers enthusiasts within the development grew louder.