20 Big Points For Smith in Win Over 76ers
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Samori Benjamin
19 Points Off the Bench For Walker IV
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
The Brooklyn Nets have won three of their last four games, all at home, after a 112-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night. Dorian Finney Smith and Dennis Schroder tied for the team lead in points with 20 for the Nets. Lonnie Walker IV had 19 points off the bench. With a record of 25-37 the Nets are 2.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the 10th and final position for the Play-In Tournament which would allow Brooklyn to make the playoffs if they made it through.
There are 20 games left on the season for the Nets and Head Coach Kevin Ollie called this the “fourth quarter” of the Nets season. “Their resilience, we talked about that earlier,” Ollie said post game. “Philly came out and I think they were up by 14 points or something like that, and we just dug in, stayed together, stayed connected. I challenged the guys in our pregame walk through at 5:00 that we needed to stay together, connectivity, and they did that. Nobody was pouting over there, nobody was pointing the fingers, and we just hunt better when we are in a pack and not individual. I’m going to keep saying it until I’m a broken record, we hunt better when we are in a pack, and we were in a pack today.”
Philadelphia played this game without their two All-Stars Tyrese Maxey and the NBA’s reigning MVP Joel Embid who has been out since the end of January with a knee injury. Maxey missed last night’s game because he was in concussion protocol after a collision in his previous game Sunday versus Dallas.
The Nets now embark on a five-game road trip and will not be back at the Barclays Center for a week and a half. Their fans hope that when the Nets return they will still be in the race for the Play-In Tournament.
