Philadelphia 76ers Beat Brooklyn Nets To Claim Eastern Conference Top Spot Kyrie Irving Shorthanded Nets SET UP Fight But Fall To 76ers Philadelphia 76ers Take Significant Step Toward Easts Top Seed With Win Over Brooklyn Nets

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Philadelphia 76ers? Joel Embiid, right, goes up for a go against Brooklyn Nets? DeAndre Jordan The Philadelphia 76ers moved into top spot in the NBA?s Eastern Conference after winning a heavyweight clash with the Brooklyn Nets by six points on Wednesday night. Led by Joel Embiid?s 39 points and 13 rebounds, the 76ers edged the undermanned Nets 123-117 to go one win clear in the standings. Tobias Harris contributed 26 points for Philadelphia while Ben Simmons had 17 and also nine assists. The Nets were without several big name stars including Kevin Durant, James Harden, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge and were led by Kyrie Irving?s 37 points. Luka Doncic hit an incredible buzzer-beating three-pointer to earn the Dallas Mavericks a 114-113 win at the Memphis Grizzlies. Dallas trailed by two points with 1.8 seconds left when Doncic managed to find space and have the inbound pass, before somehow obtaining a shot off as time expired to earn his side victory. The Milwaukee Bucks, third in the East, recorded a 130-105 rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Khris Middleton had 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in just 25 minutes of game time for the Bucks, who were without reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for a sixth game due to knee soreness. Draymond Green?s triple-double and 42 points from Stephen Curry saw the Golden State Warriors thrash the Oklahoma City Thunder 147-109. The Warriors? third straight win kept them firmly in the mix for a play-off place. The Los Angeles Clippers were missing key players Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Serge Ibaka and Patrick Beverley but nonetheless came from behind for a thrilling 100-98 make an impression on the Detroit Pistons. Third in the West contrary to the last-placed team in the East, the Clippers were down by four points heading into the last quarter but managed to avoid an upset defeat as Reggie Jackson stepped up. He were left with 29 points, while Ivica Zubac had 18 points and 13 rebounds and Luke Kennard had 17 and 10. Elsewhere, the Cleveland Cavaliers won 103-90 at the Charlotte Hornets, the Orlando Magic were 115-106 winners at the Chicago Bulls while the New York Knicks beat the New Orleans Pelicans 116-106. The Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Rockets 132-124, the Washington Wizards won 123-111 at the Sacramento Kings, the Toronto Raptors saw off the San Antonio Spurs 117-112 as the Denver Nuggets eased to a 123-106 victory on the Miami Heat.
Surprise, surprise. The battle of both best teams in the Eastern Conference finished up being a battle. With almost all their stars either injured or watching from the bench, the woefully undermanned Nets fell just lacking climbing of climbing out of a 22-point fourth-quarter hole and were defeated, 123-117, Wednesday night by the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid showed why he could be a top MVP candidate, scoring 39 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and making a big block of Bruce Brown that resulted in a turnover soon after the Nets had slice the 76ers? result in three points. Dix Hills native Tobias Harris scored 26 points on 11-for-17 shooting for the 76ers. The game had been hyped as possible preview of the Eastern Conference final because the two teams came in tied for first invest the conference. The win gave the 76ers a complete game lead on the Nets. It also gave them a 2-1 win of the growing season series. Yet, it?s clear that's also gave the Nets some confidence due to the fact they were able to make the 76ers sweat down the stretch without any of their stars in the overall game. Sign up to Sports Now newsletter By clicking Subscribe, you agree to our online privacy policy. The Nets had seven players inactive for the game, including stars James Harden and Kevin Durant. Kyrie Irving, the only one of the Big 3 available, led the team with 37 points and nine assists. Irving, however, was not on the floor once the Nets staged their comeback as coach Steve Nash had decided to pull him from the game and go with the second unit when the Sixers took a 19-point lead with 8:39 left. "I was just proud of the guys out there. It was easy to watch from the sidelines but my performance kind of gets thrown under the rug," Irving said. "My night was gone regardless, and I?m happy to be on the sidelines and see those guys handling business." "We feel good about the way we played tonight," Nash said. "We played hard. We played together. You could tell our group fought for each other. You could start to see the guys on the bench cheering for that bench squad that was in there in the next half. "It shows our connectivity and our growth as an organization and that these guys value each other and that?s really important. Win or lose, that?s something that we don?t want to ever maintain doubt. To see that tonight and a performance in a tough loss it made people feel really proud of the group." Landry Shamet scored 17 and Jeff Green added 15. Bruce Brown led the Nets reserves with 14 points. In this season, the difference between No. 1 and No. 2 could be significant as the Eastern Conference basically has three true contenders ? the 76ers, the Nets and Milwaukee. While the No. 1 seed currently would play the winner of the series between the Hawks and the Heat in the next round, the No. 2 seed would likely get the Bucks for the reason that round. Much to-do has been made about how the Nets have stockpiled talent this year to form a super team. Yet, the Nets could actually challenge a stacked team just like the 76ers without any of that talent on to the floor. Brown was asked how he will feel if the Nets return here in the playoffs with their big guns healthy. "Super confident," he said. "You?ve seen what happened today and we didn?t have those guys on to the floor. So we?re super confident." Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
Embiid fakes defender for big finish at the rim (0:18) Joel Embiid runs on the shot fake to shed his defender, then hurries to the basket to flush a two-handed dunk for the Sixers. (0:18) Before the Philadelphia 76ers squared off with the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday night to see who would find yourself atop the Eastern Conference by the end of the night, Sixers coach Doc Rivers was asked whether he has made getting the top seed in the East a priority for his team this season. "We really haven't discussed it a whole lot," Rivers said. "We're just talking about winning games." Then, the reality came out. "It clearly will be nice to possess," he said. There is no mistaking the importance of Philadelphia's 123-117 victory over the shorthanded Nets Wednesday night -- one that firmly put the Sixers in the driver's seat to claim that top spot in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia managed to get far more difficult than it would have to be to obtain that win, nearly blowing a 22-point lead with eight minutes to go before hanging on to win against Brooklyn's reserves, but ultimately the Sixers got the win -- one which moved them a game prior to the Nets with 17 games remaining for both teams. It also clinched the growing season series for Philadelphia, which turns that one-game edge right into a two-game advantage. "We made a lot of mistakes," said Joel Embiid, who had his latest dominant performance of the season with 39 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots in 33 minutes. "We turned the ball over defensively. We didn't have the focus we'd forever. That can't happen if we're a team that wants to compete for a championship." 2 Related Frustrations about the ending aside, the Sixers got what they wanted. And, coupled with the Nets dealing with an assortment of injuries and also facing an even more difficult remaining schedule (fourth-hardest) than the Sixers (seventh-easiest), the path is currently officially clear for Philadelphia to control its destiny in the East. "[It's] very important," Ben Simmons said. "We wish that one seed." The most significant reason is due to the far simpler path it carves out to escape the East -- something the Sixers are hoping to do for the first time in twenty years. With three elite teams in the East -- Philadelphia, Brooklyn and the Milwaukee Bucks -- holding that top seed means only having to beat one of those teams to attain the NBA Finals. And, when facing them, it would also mean having homecourt advantage in the Eastern Conference finals. Conversely, finishing second or third likely means having to take down two of the very best teams to get to the Finals, with either one or both series coming without homecourt advantage. David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images But, because of this Philadelphia team specifically, there is an added significance to holding that homecourt advantage: The Sixers play better at home than any team in the league. Since Embiid and Simmons began playing together in the 2017-18 season, the Sixers have gone 111-28 -- a 79.9% winning percentage -- in games at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center. The league's next-best team over that timeframe, the Denver Nuggets, have won just over 75% of these home games -- and also have the advantage of playing those games at a higher altitude. "Once you play in Philly, [the fans are] gonna push you," Embiid said. "They're gonna get on you. They're gonna boo you. You got to come out and give 110 percent and just play very difficult and give them everything you have. I feel like since I've been here in Philly, that's played a huge role in how dominant we've been at home." And while Philadelphia's voracious fans have undoubtedly played a role in that success -- and have clearly fueled Embiid, specifically, who has always fed off their energy -- the Sixers have still been an Eastern Conference-leading team at 23-5 this season at home, despite having those fans largely being kept away from the building. "I believe we're comfortable in the home," Rivers said. "I assume it's surprising this year without the fans. I can understand with the fans, but minus the fans we've had plenty of success, aswell." That success continued Wednesday night -- though it's hard to take much away from a casino game that saw Kevin Durant, James Harden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin all in street clothes for Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving (37 points on 13-for-21 shooting, plus 9 assists) was brilliant, and DeAndre Jordan played and may be expected against Embiid. Embiid was dominant, and continued his season-long parade to the foul line by going 10-for-11 from the charity stripe. It was a reminder both of how dominant Embiid has been against everyone when he's been on the court this year, and how he could be perfectly suited to attack Brooklyn's soft underbelly defensively. play 0:29 Ben Simmons throws a long-range pass to Tobias Harris who goes up to throw down a fast-break dunk for the Sixers. But Embiid, for as good as he's been, isn't the one thing driving Philadelphia's success -- and wasn't the only real person driving it Wednesday night. Tobias Harris had another high-impact, high-efficiency game (26 points on 11-for-17 shooting), both of which have already been constants from him in what has easily been his best NBA season. Simmons remains among the league's elite defenders and Seth Curry and Danny Green have provided everything Philadelphia hoped they might in swapping Josh Richardson and Al Horford for them, respectively, in the off-season. As a result, that five-man unit is now 20-4 this year after Wednesday's win, and has outscored its opponents by 14 points per 100 possessions in near 500 minutes on the court. Meanwhile, George Hill -- the team's key trade deadline pickup -- still hasn't played due to a broken bone in his hand suffered prior to the deal was made. All of that gives Philadelphia the confidence it can finally break through and go back to the league's championship round. It took a significant step toward that goal Wednesday night. "We have to handle our business night-in and night-out," Harris said. "We must be ready for the task every single night."
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