Nets reaction: The Sixers take the top spot in the East

The showdown for the first seed in the East started off like any showdown would. The Sixers went to their best player, Joel Embiid, early on and he surprisingly went 3-9 from the field in the first quarter thanks to DeAndre Jordan. Jordan had 6 points and 11 rebounds after that period, and that is the most rebounds a Net has grabbed in a quarter in over two decades.

Kyrie Irving went to work on offense and ended the first half with 23 points on 8-11 shooting from the field. Embiid at this point had 21 points, but it was on 6-16 shooting. Tobias Harris had an extremely efficient start to clean up with 17 points on 8-10 shooting from the field. Nevertheless, Nets trailed 58-65 heading into the break.

In the second half, things got out of reach for the Nets when the Sixers pushed their lead to as many as 22. Philadelphia forced 15 turnovers and capitalized off of them on the other end, leaving no prisoners.

When the game seemed all but over, a late run by a lineup of Bruce Brown, Landry Shamet, Alize Johnson, Timothe- Luwawu Cabarrot and Nicolas Claxton trimmed the large lead to single digits and from single digits to a single possession game at one point. Doc Rivers transitioned from his bench to his starters to try to calm down this late surge by Brooklyn in the last quarter, but it didn’t do much.

Fortunately for them, the starters came through, but barely for the Sixers and they got out of this one with the win. Philadelphia is now the first seed in the Eastern Conference and secure the tiebreaker against the Nets. The leading scorer of this game for Brooklyn was Kyrie Irving with 37 points and 9 assists on 13-22 shooting from the field.

DeAndre Jordan is the answer for Joel Embiid moving forward

Many analysts and fans had concerns of what the Brooklyn Nets will have as an answer for Joel Embiid on their quest to the NBA Finals. After watching this game, it is clear that DeAndre Jordan is that answer. In just the first quarter, Jordan held Embiid to 3-9 shooting and grabbed 11 boards in the period alone. He was frustrating the MVP candidate and Embiid wasn't hiding that at all on the bench before coming back in during the second quarter. Although the Sixers big man finished with 39 points on 13-29 shooting, that is against a short handed Nets squad, which is lacking defensively due to injuries. In addition, 13-29 is still under 50% and Joel Embiid on averages for the season shoots it at a 52% clip before heading into this game. Be on the look out for this matchup in the near future.

Ben Simmons will get exposed come playoff time

Ben Simmons has raved about his defense as of late; however, faced off with a depleted Brooklyn squad he did not display that when guarding Kyrie Irving. Irving had fun, a matter of fact, with the Defensive Player of the Year candidate and went on to score 37 points on 13-22 shooting in 33 minutes. This was without James Harden and Kevin Durant. When the playoffs come and these two teams end up matching up, if healthy, the Sixers won't be able to frustrate Uncle Drew as much as they did this game defensively because they will have to worry about Harden and Durant. It will also give Joe Harris better looks from behind the arc. Be careful what you ask for Ben Simmons.

The closing minutes of this game showed nothing but heart by the stay-ready group

The stay ready group of Brown, Shamet, Johnson, Luwawu-Cabbarot, and Claxton had their time to shine in the fourth quarter when they stunned the Sixers, cutting their lead to only three points. No one expected a lineup without Kyrie Irving to stand a chance against such an elite team like Philadelphia, yet that is exactly what happened. Steve Nash even said at during the postgame press conference that he did not insert Kyrie Irving back into the game because he wanted to "reward" this lineup for the work they put in. Despite the loss, this truly something to be proud of to go down fighting the way they did.

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