PENNSYLVANIA – Brooklyn Nets displayed its dominance from start to finish. it walloped Philadelphia 76ers, 129-100, in the 2021-2022 NBA Season on Thursday night (Friday in the Philippines) at the Wells Fargo Centet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Facing their former teammate James Harden for the first time, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and former 76ers gunner Seth Curry were extra motivated. They cruised to a wire-to-wire victory to move up to 34-33 in the standings.
The Nets went on a 33-21 start behind early hits from Durant and Curry. The lead grew further to 40-23 with Irving and James Johnson making their offensive contributions.
Brooklyn went on with its run in the second quarter with Nicholas Claxton converting from inside and Durant and Curry connecting from outside for a 72-51 halftime lead.
The Nets went for the kill in the second half with three-point bombs from Durant, Curry, Irving and Johnson. The lead swelled to its largest at 40 points in the fourth period.
Durant flirted with triple-double with 25 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, while Irving drilled five outside shots to end up with 22 markers for Brooklyn.
Curry, playing against his former team Philadelphia for the first time, ignited with 24 points on top of career-high four steals, while Johnson, Bruce Brown and Patty Mills ended up with 16, 11 and 10, respectively.
Joel Embiid led the way with 27 points, but only converted five of his 17 shot attempts, to go with 12 rebounds, while Tobias Harris added 16 markers as the 76ers dropped to 40-25.
Harden struggled in his first game against ex-team Brooklyn as he finished with 11 points, on 3-of-17 shooting, to go with six rebounds, five assists, two steals and four turnovers.
Harden was pestered by the defense of the Nets since the opening quarter as he only converted one of his first 11 tries before connecting two more to end the first half. He has not scored since and was subbed out for good in the third period.
BOX SCORE:
BROOKLYN 129 — Durant 25, Curry 24, Irving 22, Johnson 16, Brown 11, Mills 10, Claxton 9, Drummond 7, Dragic 3, Thomas 2, Edwards 0.
PHILADELPHIA 100 — Embiid 27, Harris 16, Harden 11, Niang 11, Jordan 10, Korkmaz 8, Reed 7, Thybulle 4, Maxey 4, Joe 2, Milton 0.
Quarterscores: 40-23, 72-51, 102-70, 129-100./PN
