By: Kylan Watson

After losing to the Golden State Warriors an embarrassing fashion on Thursday night, the Philadelphia 76ers played the Brooklyn Nets tonight in the final game of their six-game road trip. Thanks to a first quarter scoring explosion from Joel Embiid Philly beat Brooklyn 123-94.

For the second straight game the Sixers started this game off very sluggishly on both sides of the ball. They just could not get stops on the defensive end and could not hit shots on the offensive end. As a result of the poor play the Nets were able to get out to an 11-to-nothing scoring run. Instead of calling a timeout for his team to regroup, Nick Nurse let his team figure it out and that was an extremely critical move for Philly in this contest. They turned it around thanks to Joel Embiid (28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds) who scored 15 of his 28 points in the first quarter and that erased the Nets 11-point lead and put Philly back on top in this game.

Unlike the previous game against the Warriors Embiid got the ball early and often in this game. He played very aggressively throughout this game, and once again accounted for most of Philly’s points in the first half and led by example in this game. An aggressive Embiid is an important thing for the Sixers and opens high-percentage shooting opportunities for his teammates.

The beneficiary of Embiid’s gravity in tonight’s contest was Caleb Martin, who is starting to return to form after missing a couple of games with a shoulder issue. He scored 17 points in tonight’s contest and made his first seven shot attempts from the floor. It did not matter if he had a hand in his face or if he was taking the shot in rhythm or not it found the bottom of the net. Throughout this road trip Martin’s play has been a huge factor in Philly having a 4-2 record on this pivotal period in their schedule that has steadied the ship after a horrendous start to the 2024-25 NBA Regular season.

Martin continuing to develop his scoring ability and improving his chemistry with Embiid, Tyrese Maxey (18 points), and Paul George (17 points) as a starter will take Philly’s offensive and defensive schemes to another level.

Thanks to the play of Embiid and Martin in the first two quarters this game was wrapped up by half-time for the Sixers and many of the starters did not play in the fourth quarter. That opened opportunities for their younger players, specifically Justin Edwards, to play in this game. The Philly native got to play with Philly’s Big Three in the first quarter and he took full advantage of the opportunity. He scored 11 points (First double figure scoring game in his career), and he made some great plays on both sides of the ball.

He has some things to work on in his game, but if he continues to develop within Philly’s system. They could have another role player who can take his game and the team to another level. Edwards has the skills to be a two-way player and could be another guy like Jared McCain or Tyrese Maxey who could be a contributor for a long time in Philadelphia.

For Brooklyn they did not have Cam Johnson or Cam Thomas available in this game. As a result, the Nets did not have many scorers available that Philly had to worry about besides D’Angelo Russell. They were able to keep him in check throughout this contest because they put Martin on him. His length bothered Russell, and he really was not a significant factor in this contest. When the Sixers play defense like they did tonight not many teams can compete with them on a nightly basis.

Philly will now prepare to face the Phoenix Suns on Monday night, and they will need to win the rebounding battle, limit their turnovers, and continue to improve their perimeter defensive scheme. Especially with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal coming to town on Monday night. They will need to make sure that all three of them are taking contested shots and not having multiple opportunities to take high-percentage shots.

Durant and Booker will put points on the board no matter what. However, if the Sixers can make them work on both sides of the ball that could be a difference maker in this contest.

Additionally, the Sixers will need to find their offensive rhythm early in this contest, they cannot afford to have another slow start against the Suns. Who can blow them off their home floor if given an opportunity. Playing on their home floor should help them play better because role players play better at home. The Sixers will need to use their ball movement to create and cash in on the high-percentage shooting opportunities created from it.

Implementing these things into their game plan for Monday night should put the Sixers in a great position to win their 15^th game of the season and make another statement against one of the top teams in the Western Conference.