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

3. Russell found his groove

The final stat line for D’Angelo Russell’s playoff debut won’t be forever immortalized in NBA lore. No, the fourth-year pro was just 10-for-25 in 29 minutes, going 2-for-6 from 3-point range with four assists, four turnovers, three rebounds and a steal.

But he fought his way through some first-half shooting struggles to put together a big second half — and a huge third quarter — as the Brooklyn Nets fended off a run by the Philadelphia 76ers early in the second half to win convincingly in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference First Round series.

Russell was 0-for-6 in the first quarter and 2-for-11 in the first half, scoring seven points.

But the Nets — with seven points from their leading scorer — were still up eight on the 76ers at the break, 62-54.

Russell’s teammates picked up the slack in the opening 24 minutes, going 17-for-31 (54.8 percent) as a group and keeping the Nets ahead until Russell got it going in the third quarter.

DLo was 6-for-10 with 14 points in the third period and dropped in five in the fourth on 2-of-4 shooting, finishing with 26 points in 29 minutes.

His counterpart, Ben Simmons, was also a first-time All-Star this season and is in the postseason for the second straight year. But Simmons was held to nine points on 4-of-9 shooting — going 1-for-5 from the foul line — and dishing just three assists in 32 minutes of action.

Throw in a huge advantage in bench scoring — Brooklyn’s reserves were a plus-35 over the Philadelphia subs — and Russell did more than enough to help the Nets win.

It’s been said before, but it bears repeating. Russell is not a sharpshooter so much as he is a classic volume scorer. Sometimes he will have nights were he takes 25 shots to score 26 points.

But that is a price worth paying for a guy who can score 14 points in an overtime period — as Russell did to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers before the All-Star break — or 27 in a quarter — such as Russell did in the most improbable of comeback wins at Sacramento last month.

Russell still keeps his teammates involved, has worked on his defense enough to not be a complete liability and has matured into the Nets’ leader on the floor.

And, hey, he’s 1-0 in his playoff career so he has to be doing something right.