Sixers look to correct minor mistakes in Game 2 against Brooklyn Nets

The Sixers know Brooklyn is capable of stealing a victory if Philadelphia's players become overconfident and stop paying attention to detail.

Sixers Head Coach Doc Rivers signals to his team against the Brooklyn Nets during game one of the first round in the Eastern Conference playoffs on Saturday, April 15, 2023 in Philadelphia.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Keith Pompey

Published April 16, 2023, 6:23 p.m. ET

Doc Rivers knows now is not the time for the 76ers to get complacent — even though it’s easy to do so under the circumstances.

They’re coming off a lopsided Game 1 playoff victory over the Brooklyn Nets. That could provide a lot of confidence for the remainder of the Eastern Conference first-round series.

The expectation is the Sixers will go up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series when the teams meet in Monday’s Game 2 at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers’ coach knows better.

The Nets are young, athletic, and have nothing to lose. They have one of the NBA’s rising stars in Mikal Bridges and several legitimate three-point shooters. Brooklyn is capable of stealing a victory if the Sixers become overconfident and stop paying attention to detail.

Perhaps that’s why Rivers used Sunday’s film session to point out the few mistakes the Sixers made against the Nets’ double-teaming of Joel Embiid in Saturday’s 121-101 Game 1 victory. The sellout crowd and national television audience saw Embiid patiently find teammates, who in turn got open shots or swung the ball elsewhere.

“But, I think we can handle them better,” Rivers said of the double-teams. “I do. We made threes. But we showed [the players] about six times where our spacing was off, was late. And we have to get better on that.”

Rivers didn’t like the spots on the floor where players were cutting to the basket. He also didn’t like how they responded to Brooklyn’s defensive positioning.

“You got to move,” Rivers said. “You know, when they move you move. Wasn’t there a song like that? We showed [the players] there were times when you could see them coming in the trap, and we were still standing still.

“You got to move right when they move. It’s got to be instant, and I thought we were late. And we were fortunate a couple of times. We made shots, we made plays. But we got to be good.”

The Sixers made 21 three-pointers to set a team playoff record for a game. Their 13 first-half threes also set a team record for a half.

But Rivers wasn’t happy with the Sixers’ two-point shot selection. They made 21 of 46 two-point attempts for 45.6%.

“I just thought a lot of our twos should have probably been more ball movement than shots now quite honestly,” he said. “So I think we’ll be better at that.”

The Nets, meanwhile, are looking for better ways to double Embiid in Game 2 and take away some of the Sixers’ three-pointers.

“That’s the great thing about the film. It tells the truth,” Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn said Sunday of his team’s Game 1 film study. “So half of those threes weren’t from double-teams so you have to take a look at that. Whether it’s an offensive rebound that we didn’t get and [Georges] Niang gets an open three. Whether it’s a we turned the basketball over and [Tyrese] Maxey gets an open three at the other end.

“So being able to diagnose that and hone in on what were the threes we gave up from scrambling, that’s where the guys need to see it.”

The Sixers scored 31 points off 20 Brooklyn turnovers and outscored the Nets, 21-3, in second-chance points. Vaughn thinks his team can take care of the turnover issue. A lot of them were the result of miscommunication, not paying attention, or throwing lobs to the wrong spots.

He’s more concerned about the three-pointers that didn’t come off double-teaming Embiid.

“You really gotta look at all the possessions and I gotta convince this group to look at all the possessions, which we will,” Vaughn said, “and see which ones came from scrambling and which ones came from just normal basketball plays.”

In regards to scrambling, the Sixers had Brooklyn doing a lot of that Saturday. Philly had a 14-5 advantage in offensive rebounds and a huge advantage in 50/50 balls.

Was that the result of Brooklyn being tired?

“Man, you cannot be tired at this time of the year,” Vaughn said. “That is like an underlined excuse right there. No excuses. You step into the octagon and if you’re not ready, you get knocked out. That’s what happens. You gotta be ready.”

The Nets made 13 of 29 three-pointers in Game 1. The Sixers expect them to attempt more on Monday, so they’re determined to take three-point opportunities away.

The Sixers have to know this is the perfect opportunity to take a comfortable 2-0 series lead. That advantage would be welcome heading to New York for Games 3 and 4 on Thursday and Saturday.

“I thought in the first half, we didn’t do a great job with our defensive spacing,” Rivers said of Game 1. “Like we were not pulled in enough and they saw a lot of open gaps. .

“But second half, they played more in a crowd. We have to be able to do that. We cannot allow them to have that much space and think we are going to get away with it.”