25 things to know about Sixers-Nets as Game 1 of their first-round series approaches

The Brooklyn Nets, in just a little more than two months, have gone from a tiresome group of mercenaries to an interesting young team led by a rather amiable Villanova alumnus. They may not have enough firepower to make a deep run as when they had Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, but with Mikal Bridges leading the way, the Nets definitely are more tolerable. At least until that first hard foul on Joel Embiid.

Here are 25 things to ponder as this first-round series is finally almost at hand, including a bit of trivia related to Sixers playoff opponents who played in the Big 5.

1. This will be the fourth time the Sixers and Nets have met in the postseason. The Sixers beat the Nets in 1979 and 2019, but infamously lost in 1984 when the Nets shocked the defending champion Sixers by winning all three games of the best-of-five series at the Spectrum.

2. Perhaps it was gamesmanship, but Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn intimated this week that he may try to pull a rabbit out of his hat by using a surprise off his bench to help deal with Joel Embiid. “Usually, you do trim your rotation going into the playoffs; no secret about that,” he said. “But we’ll be in a position where I think guys who haven’t played will have an impact in this series.”

3. Four of the five starters Vaughn used down the stretch — Mikal Bridges, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Cam Johnson — were acquired by the Nets in February. Nic Claxton, a late first-round pick in 2019, is the only starter drafted by Brooklyn.

4. Claxton, Brooklyn’s 6-11 center, averaged 2.5 blocks, the most by a Nets player since old friend Shawn Bradley averaged 4.0 in 1996-97. Bradley, the No. 2 overall pick by the Sixers in 1993, was left a quadriplegic after being run over while riding his bike in 2021.

5. Claxton had nine blocks in three games against the Sixers this season. The record for most blocked shots by a Sixers opponent in a playoff game is held by another old chum. Manute Bol, when he was with Washington, blocked nine Sixers shots in a 1986 postseason game.

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6. The favorite is 2-7 against the spread in the early afternoon game of the first full day of playoff games over the last nine years. This includes 2019 when sixth-seeded Brooklyn surprised the third-seeded Sixers in the first-round opener at the Wells Fargo Center. It was the only game the Nets won that series. Five times in the last nine years, the underdog has won outright.

7. Bridges, who helped Villanova win a pair of national titles, exploded after the Nets plucked him away from Phoenix in the Kevin Durant deal in February. Bridges averaged 17.2 points with Phoenix, but 27.2 in his first 26 games with Brooklyn before making a nominal, four-second appearance in the season finale.

8. Bridges has never missed a game for which he was eligible in his NBA career, which includes the leading active streak of 392 regular-season games, in addition to 35 playoff games. He played in all 116 possible games at Villanova, too. Whew.

9. Bridges was drafted 10th overall by the Sixers in 2019, but quickly traded to Phoenix for Zhaire Smith (ugh) and a 2021 first-round pick which Philadelphia used to acquire Tobias Harris. Bridges, who attended Great Valley High School, freely admits he was angry when the Sixers traded him. Smith, by the way, hasn’t played in the NBA since 2019-20.

10. Bridges’ arrival to the Sixers seemed like a natural fit — even his mother worked for the team’s human resources. But that wasn’t the way it played out. Mom, though, was thrilled when Bridges was traded from Phoenix to Brooklyn. Tyneeha Rivers, according to the New York Post, is the Chief People Officer for Curaleaf in New York. When Bridges dropped 45 points on Miami in February, he was able to hand his game-worn jersey to Mom sitting courtside.

11. “You get traded, and you’ve just got a lot of stuff going on,” Rivers told the Post. “But it seems to be a good fit. There’s good young talent on the team and I’m excited for the future for the Nets.”

12. The record for most points in a playoff game by a Sixers/Nationals opponent from a Big 5 school is held by Paul Arizin (Villanova), who had 43 for the Warriors against Syracuse in 1962.

13. The record for points by an opposing Big 5 alumnus in a playoff game against the Sixers is held by Kyle Lowry (Villanova), who had 20 for Toronto in Game 2 of the 2019 East semis.

14. The most points in a playoff game by any opponent in Sixers franchise history is 56 by Wilt Chamberlain for the Warriors in 1962 when the club was the Syracuse Nationals. Wilt (Kansas) didn’t go to a Big 5 school, but he did attend Overbrook High. The most points by any opponent in a playoff game this century is 50 by Toronto’s Vince Carter in 2001.

15. One of the guys who will not be making an impact for the Nets in this series is Ben Simmons, the former Sixer who was ruled out for the season with a back injury in February. Simmons’ career trajectory has taken a sad nosedive since his third consecutive All-Star season in 2020-21, even if many of his problems have been his own doing.

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16. Two guys Vaughn turns to off the bench are sharpshooters Joe Harris and Seth Curry, though Curry’s minutes have dwindled. Vaughn will have to adjust if his big men start piling up fouls trying to contain Joel Embiid. Backup center Day’Ron Sharpe is in his second season and played less than 12 minutes per game this season. He could see a larger role.

17. Curry, of course, is a former Sixer and a son-in-law of head coach Doc Rivers. He’s faced Rivers once before in the playoffs — 2020 when Rivers’ Clippers took care of Curry’s Mavericks in six games. Curry averaged 12.8 points and impressively hit 47.6% of his three-pointers in the series. The following year, they both were in Philadelphia.

18. Dinwiddie went to the same Los Angeles-area high school (William Howard Taft) that also produced rappers Eazy-E and Ice Cube, former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, and Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia on The Brady Bunch.

19. Dinwiddie was acquired from Dallas in the Irving deal that totally blew up in the Mavericks’ face. Did Dinwiddie notice the Mavs went 9-18 after the trade and failed to make the playoffs? “I ain’t gonna lie,” he told a podcast hosted by FanDuel this week. “There’s a certain level of happiness from the pettier side of my psyche. … Overall, I wanted them to do well, but there is that little piece that — I ain’t gonna lie — I am a little bit happy.” As he should be.

20. Dinwiddie’s scoring and shooting numbers slipped when he got to Brooklyn, but his assists shot up from 5.3 with Dallas to an astounding 9.1 in 26 games with the Nets. His Sixers’ counterpart, James Harden, led the league with 10.7 dimes.

21. The Nets went 45-37, finishing under their projected win total of 50.5. That line, of course, was made while Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were with Brooklyn. They went 13-16 after trading Irving to Dallas on Feb. 6, 12-15 after sending Durant to Phoenix.

22. Brooklyn started 2-5 before firing head coach Steve Nash and promoting Vaughn from assistant. Vaughn’s only other experience in the playoffs as a head coach was in 2019-20 when he similarly replaced Kenny Atkinson mid-season. The Nets were swept by Toronto in the first round.

23. The Sixers’ win-total line also was 50.5. They hit the over by going 54-28.

24. Royce O’Neal is from Killeen, Texas. He grew up playing against men at nearby Fort Hood army base. He’s one of three players in the league whose scoring average has increased each of the last six seasons, although modestly from 5.0 points in 2017-18 to 8.8 points this season. All-Stars Bam Adebayo and Jayson Tatum are the others.

25. The pick: Love that trend about underdogs catching the higher seeds napping in the first game of the first full day. The Sixers have the depth and star power to sweep, but there’s something troublesome about playing a team with nothing to lose. Can’t wait for the Dinwiddie-Harden fireworks. Sixers in 6.