Philadelphia 76ers got it right against the Nets after Doc called for time out in the third quarter and got the victory in game 2.
Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers called for time out in the third quarter against the Net to set things right and get victory in game 2.
After watching his team fail to properly run a play he drew up coming out of the halftime break — which followed a lackadaisical overall performance in the first half of Game 2 of their first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets — Rivers let his players know how he felt.
“The first possession, we didn’t run a play that he drew up, for whatever reason. But we got it right.”
Harden was right — the 76ers looked like a totally different team after they left that huddle, outscoring the Nets 24-12 over the final 11 minutes of the third quarter to retake the lead for good. Tyrese Maxeyscored 33 points and Joel Embiid dominated with 20 points, 19 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocks as the 76ers claimed a 96-84 victory and a 2-0 lead as the series shifts to Brooklyn for Game 3 on Thursday.
“I thought we wasted the whole first half,” Rivers said. “Literally just running random [stuff], not trusting our sets.
“First play, we didn’t run it. So I thought we needed to talk about it. And, you know, give them credit. From that point on, I thought our execution was unbelievable.”
Over the rest of the third quarter, the 76ers simply wore down the Nets. Brooklyn pretty successfully executed its game plan overall, getting up 42 3-point attempts — Jacque Vaughn said pregame that he hoped his Nets would shoot at least 40 — and managed to play the possession game to a draw by forcing Philadelphia into 19 turnovers that became 22 Brooklyn points.
But as the third quarter wore on, those double teams on Embiid stopped forcing turnovers and instead forced Brooklyn into giving up one wide-open shot after another. And while Philadelphia started knocking them down, hitting four of the team’s 11 3-pointers on the night in that quarter alone, the 76ers also suffocated Brooklyn’s offense at the other end of the court, holding the Nets to 6-for-18 shooting as Philadelphia took a lead it never would relinquish.
“We got guys to the right space,” Rivers said. “Joel was patient. James was patient. We moved the ball, we got every shot we wanted.
“That was a hard game, because we got outside of ourselves in the first half. I thought we were forcing it. We were trying, nothing selfish, but we’re trying to score all of us, instead of there giving you the answers with their traps. Trust your stuff, trust your spacing, move the ball and the right guys are going to end up with the ball.
“And if we do it enough, eventually, Joel, you’re gonna get one-on-ones, and then you’re going to dominate the game. And I thought we did that in the second half.”
Follow us on all social media platform, @Sportscliffs on Twitter and Instagram and also like our facebook page
