There was a significant difference between the first half and second half of the game. Philadelphia started the game aggressive and played swift and Brooklyn returned from halftime refreshed.
“This is great for us, great game for us in the course of having preseason games,” said Head Coach Jacque Vaughn. “A physical, aggressive team where you need to be decisive with the basketball, you need to take the opportunity when they come and present themselves. We didn’t do that.”
The 76ers had a 12-0 lead before the Nets scored. Philadelphia had back to back steals and were scoring points on multiple rebounds and break aways. Philadelphia had five steals and out-rebounded Brooklyn 16-10 in the first quarter. The Nets had zero steals and trailed 34-21 to start the second quarter.
The Nets improved and had 16 total rebounds in the second quarter while the 76ers had eight. Brooklyn managed two steals, but trailed 68-51 at halftime.
The Nets outscored the 76ers 32-28 in the third quarter and 36-31 in the fourth quarter.
Vaughn said during huddles in the first half of the game he talked about their overall process on both ends of the floor and avoiding screens. “I really talked about being decisive with the basketball,” Coach Vaughan said. “They had easy baskets.”
Cam Thomas led the Nets with 18 points. Nic Claxton added 12 points. “We watched film,” Claxton said about what was said at halftime that pushed them. “The first half especially, they just out-rebounded us. The shot differential, it can’t be like that. We know the areas we need to improve in as far as playing hard and we focused more on that in the second half.”
Ben Simmons led the Nets with nine assists. He had six rebounds and eight points. Simmons received support from the crowd an against his former team and one fan even had a tattoo of his face. “Yeah, crazy,” he said. “It’s a good feeling to be playing at a decent level now and have that support from fans and people all over the world. It’s a great feeling.”
The Nets traveled to face the Miami Wednesday night in their final preseason game and play their home opener October 25th against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
