Nothin' But Nets
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Brooklyn Nets: 3 takeaways from big Game 1 win at Philadelphia

By Phil Watson

Brooklyn Nets D'Angelo Russell DeMarre Carroll Joe Harris (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)
Brooklyn Nets D'Angelo Russell DeMarre Carroll Joe Harris (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images) /
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Brooklyn Nets D’Angelo Russell DeMarre Carroll Joe Harris (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images) /

The Brooklyn Nets weathered an early storm and then dismantled the favored Philadelphia 76ers en route to a 111-102 win in Game 1 of their 1st-round series.

The Brooklyn Nets weathered an early flurry from the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference First Round series Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

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Then the Nets systematically took the 76ers apart en route to a convincing 111-102 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Philadelphia made a run early in the second half, riding some of the momentum from Jimmy Butler‘s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the second quarter to cut what had been a 17-point deficit to just two.

But Brooklyn answered the challenge and finished the third quarter strong, outscoring the 76ers 28-19 the rest of the period to open an 11-point lead entering the fourth.

After Spencer Dinwiddie put the Nets back up by 11 with 9:03 to go on a driving reverse layup, Philadelphia didn’t get the margin inside double digits again until there was less than 40 seconds remaining.

Game 2 is Monday night back at Wells Fargo Center, with an 8 p.m. Eastern tipoff on TNT.

D’Angelo Russell shook off a slow start to lead the Nets in the second half, scoring 19 of his team-high 26 points after the break, and the Brooklyn bench absolutely dominated the Philadelphia reserves by a 59-26 count.

Throw in a terrific defensive effort from the Nets, who held the 76ers to just 40.7 percent shooting (35-for-86) on the afternoon, including 3-of-25 (12 percent) from 3-point range, and Brooklyn had no problem in its first playoff game in four years.

The Nets hit 43.2 percent (38-for-88) overall, but were a hot 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) from 3-point range and Brooklyn helped their cause at the foul line by going 24-for-26 (92.3 percent), enough to offset a 42-26 edge for the 76ers in attempts.

Philadelphia made just 29-of-42 at the line, 69 percent. The Nets were able to overcome the 76ers’ 23-16 edge in second-chance points with their 3-point shooting and a 14-9 advantage in points off turnovers.

Brooklyn had just 12 turnovers — one coming late when they let the shot clock expire — while the 76ers had 13.

Russell also had four assists to go with his 26 points, while Caris LeVert scored 23 in his postseason debut, hitting 3-of-3 from long range. Ed Davis played 25 minutes off the bench despite a scare with a turned ankle and finished with 12 points and 16 rebounds.

Jared Dudley dished out four assists as well and DeMarre Carroll had 11 points and three steals. Dinwiddie finished with 18 points and Joe Harris added 13.

Harris kept the Nets afloat early, hitting three of his 3-pointers in the first quarter as Brooklyn took Philadelphia’s early punches before closing the quarter on a 12-1 run to go up 31-22.

Jimmy Butler scored 23 of his career playoff high 36 points in the first half and had six offensive rebounds to go with two blocks for Philadelphia.

Joel Embiid — who wasn’t declared available by the 76ers until seven minutes before tipoff — had 22 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks, but was just 5-of-15 from the floor and was 0-for-5 from deep.

He missed five of the 76ers’ last seven games with tendinitis in his left knee and looked to be laboring at times. If was just the ninth game Embiid had played since the All-Star break.

Tobias Harris handed out six assists for Philadelphia, but was limited to just four points in 41 minutes. Ben Simmons had three blocks to go with nine points and just three assists.

Here are three takeaways from the Nets’ Game 1 victory.