Sixers down Nets 137-133 in an "emotional reunion"

PHILADELPHIA. PA - It was an emotional night down in South Philadelphia as former Sixer PG Ben Simmons made his second homecoming since being traded to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for James Harden last season. Except this time around there was a little extra juice added to the mix as Joel Embiid (who had missed Simmons initial return to Philly with an injury) was active, despite some pregame concerns.

The Sixers star big-man scored 26 as he was matched up with Simmons for most of the night on the offensive end, resulting in a few scrappy matchups that we saw progress throughout the contest.

When asked about the emotions his team showed and how it affected their play head coach Doc Rivers had this to say postgame, “I think we were on the wrong end of it too much, we got caught up in our emotions and started making some stupid mistakes”. The Sixers bench boss isn’t wrong as the team suffered from technical fouls and unnecessarily scrappy plays that resulted in fouls all too often.

Despite all this, the Sixers were still able to pull out one of their best victories of the season on a night where it seemed like both sides just couldn’t miss.

We saw the hot offense start early, as the two sides totaled a monstrous 82 first-quarter points, finishing the frame tied 41-41. However, the second and third quarters would see the Sixers begin to pull away more and more as Tyrese Maxey and James Harden took control hitting some tough shots and forcing multiple key turnovers on a clumsy Nets squad.

Turnovers and steals proved to be a huge factor for the Sixers who stripped the ball away 10 times, to only 3 times for the Nets, while Brooklyn committed 16 total turnovers to just 9 for Doc Rivers squad.

Even down the stretch in the fourth quarter as the Nets began to hit their stride mounting an 8-0 run, a key steal from James Harden propelled the Sixers onto a run of their own eventually paving the way for Blue and Red to edge out their league-best 6ht straight win. Looking ahead, the Sixers will prepare to face off with Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets this Saturday at WFC for a 3:00 pm EST tip-off.