Sixers vs. Brooklyn Nets takeaways: Joel Embiid trusts his teammates; De’Anthony Melton struggles; Ben Simmons’ regression

NEW YORK — Joel Embiid has more trust in his teammates.

De’Anthony Melton needs to take advantage of his open looks. And Ben Simmons isn’t the player he was a 76er.

These three things stood out during Saturday’s 101-98 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center.

Embiid will be praised for his game highs of 37 points and 13 rebounds, and rightfully so.

“That’s what everyone is going to focus on,” coach Doc Rivers said. “I’m focusing on his passing when guys are not making shots, and trusting it and [he] kept doing it.”

That’s something the Sixers (36-19) stressed after the game. Even though Embiid only had two assists, the coaches pointed out that he still has to make the right play.

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They believe his doing that is one of their best ingredients to win a championship.

“Nine times out of 10, our guys will make those shots,” Rivers said. “Tonight Georges [Niang] couldn’t make it, Tobias [Harris] couldn’t make it, [Melton] couldn’t make it.”

Melton failed to score while missing his three shots. Harris had three points on 1-for-9 shooting, while Niang had four points on 1-for-2 shooting. The Sixers made 6 of 23 three-pointers for 26.1%.

But Embiid kept trusting his teammates, which is huge for the Sixers moving forward.

That wasn’t alway the case for the six-time All-Star.

Several seasons ago, Embiid tried to win games all by himself. But he learned you can’t win “one on five.” That’s why he kept feeding him teammates the ball against Brooklyn (33-23).

“I joked around with them after the game that based on last night I should probably have 10 assists each game,” Embiid said. “But I gotta keep trusting them I like I say, especially the way teams double me, especially coming on the pass every single possession, you just got to keep trusting them.”

Melton was a nonfactor on both ends of the floor.

In addition to failing to score for the fourth time this season, the shooting guard was a game-worst minus-12 in 14 minutes, 21 seconds. Melton has struggled recently against athletic, attacking guards. He’s also missing wide-open shots.

Melton, who has replaced Tyrese Maxey in the starting lineup, appears to be hitting a wall regarding fatigue.

The fifth-year veteran is averaging a career-best 28.8 minutes and has more responsibility after being acquired in a draft-night trade from the Memphis Grizzlies.

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“The wall, if it is, we got All-Star break coming up,” Rivers said. “We got rest coming up, and we’re going to need it, because our March is awful.

“But I’m not concerned. I’m really not.”

One has to wonder if his recent ineffectiveness will lead to the Sixers reinserting Maxey into the starting lineup.

The 6-foot-10 point guard/forward looks nothing like a guy who was a three-time All-Star as Sixers.

Simmons had four points and three assists in 16:24 as the Nets’ ninth man off the bench. He came into the game averaging career lows in points (7.3), rebounds (6.5), assists (6.3), and minutes (27.1).

Before losing his starting spot on Thursday, Simmons didn’t play late in games because of struggles from the foul line. He was shooting a career-worst 43.9% from the foul line.

Simmons averaged 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.7 assists over four seasons with the Sixers. In addition to being an All-Star, he was the 2018 rookie of the year, a 2020 All-NBA third-teamer, the 2020 steals champion and a two-time All-Defensive first-teamer.

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Now, he’s a high-profile role player in Brooklyn.

“I believe he can get back to where he was with us, especially now, I think, because he will have the ball in his hands more,” Rivers said of the Nets trading Kyrie Irving. “I thought that’s what we did that really kind of freed him up.

“But it’s just going to take time. Now, what has it been, a year and a half? I don’t think it’ll be overnight. But he’s working, and that’s all you can do.”

Best performance: This goes to Embiid on a night he finished with game highs of 37 points and 13 rebounds. The Sixers All-Star made 12 of 13 shots, had a team-high two steals to go with two steals in 37 minutes, 23 seconds. Embiid gave the Sixers the lead for good with a pair foul shots with 5.2 econds left.

Worst performance: I had to give this to Melton for the second consecutive game. He failed to record a steal, block and an assist while grabbing a rebound.

Best defensive performance: I had to give this to Cam Johnson,who finished with a game-high three steals in his first game as a Net.

Worst statistics: This goes to the Sixers three-point shooting. They made just 26.1%.

Best statistics: This goes to Joe Harris’ three-point shooting. The Nets guard made 6 of 9 three-pointers to score 18 points.