The Nets come home for their first home game of 2025. Waiting for them are the injured, but always dangerous Philadelphia 76ers.
Back home, and back with a victory. The Brooklyn Nets did their very best to trick their lead off against the Milwaukee Bucks, but they did just enough to hang on and win by three points. Funny how that goes sometimes.
The opponent tonight is in a bad rut. The Philadelphia 76ers are back on the East Coast after a truly disastrous close to the West Coast part of the road trip. After melting down the night before against the Sacramento Kings, the Sixers were embarrassed on national TV by the Golden State Warriors as they lost by 34 points on Thursday night.
Where to follow the game
YES Network on TV. WFAN on radio. Tip after 6 PM.
Injuries
No Maxwell Lewis, Bojan Bogdanovic, or Trendon Watford. Cam Johnson sprained his ankle in the final seconds of Thursday’s game and is officially doubtful. Cam Thomas and Noah Clowney are both questionable.
Jared McCain is out for the season due to an ACL tear. KJ Martin is out due to a stress reaction in his left foot. Kelly Oubre Jr is doubtful with a left hand sprain. Joel Embiid is questionable with a left foot sprain + his right sinus fracture.
The game
Philadelphia won the first meeting in November.
It’s Kids Day at Barclays! The kids heading to the game this evening will be getting themselves a cool lunchbox!
It’s the first home game of 2025, and D’Angelo Russell’s first home game back with the Nets. Russell had a good first run with Brooklyn in the mid 2010s and is off to a good start in his return. Russell gives the Nets a solid lead guard option and someone who can heat up and keep the offense afloat when they get into ruts.
The 76ers still have championship expectations, but injuries have made that dream as far away as ever. They still have time to fight their way back into the playoffs, but it won’t be easy.
It’s going to be fascinating to watch Tyrese Maxey tonight. He’s generally been excellent but like all of his teammates, had a terrible outing on Thursday night. How bad? I’ll let my main man Kyle Neubeck of All PHLY explain:
“Thursday’s first half featured three of the worst layup misses I have seen from Maxey in his career. We have grown used to watching role players like Caleb Martin smoke layups with nobody contesting the shot, but Maxey is normally someone you can count on to make the freebies. Not so in this one, and unfortunately, those open or open-ish layups represented a pretty big chunk of his shot attempts.
I am also growing a bit tired of listening to and watching him complain about calls that he is never going to get. You lot are allowed to be upset that one of “your guys” can’t seem to catch a break, but there is no grand conspiracy against Maxey as a player that prevents him from getting calls. He ends up on the baseline looking up to the sky and the refs over and over again, and it’s because he does not initiate contact well enough to draw fouls. Teams have found effective ways to defend him inside the arc because he is limited as a passer, making it easier to time rotations and contests accordingly.”
Yeesh. Great players tend to bounce back after awful outings, so the Nets will need to be on high alert. To Kyle’s point, Maxey is shooting a surprisingly low 57 percent inside the restricted area this season on close to six shot attempts a game. The Nets rim protectors will (probably) have their hands full with Joel Embiid, so it’ll be interesting to see how Brooklyn handles Maxey.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Nets operate if Johnson misses this one. Last time he missed a game, Jalen Wilson stepped up and filled in for him. If Clowney is able to suit up, that’ll give the Nets another frontcourt option to work with. With tonight being the first date of a three game homestand, we’ll see how Jordi Fernandez manages the rotations in the likely event of Johnson’s absence.
Player to watch: Paul George
The thing with PG is he can either be a great number one option or a great number three option. Anything in between and you’re asking for trouble. Unfortunately for Sixer fans, trouble has found them as George has been unable to establish a truly solid role this season. His numbers are down across the board and the three point shooting is especially concerning. PG has only made 33.6 percent of his threes, the lowest since his rookie season in 2010-2011. Simply put, they need a lot more from him if they want to break into the top six and beyond.
Cam Thomas should be back, and the Nets can always benefit from his scoring punch. His minutes have been in the 20s since his return, and figure to be around that number tonight. Thomas does a great job of driving to the basket, and that will come in handy against a Sixer team that allows teams to shoot 69.9 percent inside the restricted area, third highest in the NBA this season. Combine that with Philly flying cross country and this being the last night of their six game road trip, and you have all the makings of a Thomas scoring explosion.
From the Vault
I’ve heard the Luther Vandross documentary CNN produced is excellent, so I’m gonna need to get around to it one of these days. In the meantime…
More reading: Liberty Ballers, All Phly, SB Nation NBA
- Brooklyn Nets Game Notes – Brooklyn Nets
- Philadelphia 76ers Game Notes – Philadelphia 76ers
- 76ers hope to have more hop in their step vs. Nets – NBA
- Brooklyn faces Philadelphia on 4-game home slide – AP
- Nets’ Ziaire Williams provides big boost in return from back injury – Bridget Reilly – New York Post
- Prep school coach thrilled his former stars D’Angelo Russell, Ben Simmons reunited on Nets – Brian Lewis – New York Post