PHILADELPHIA _ If the season would have ended before Thursday's game against the 76ers and Brooklyn Nets, the two would have been first-round Eastern Conference playoff opponents.
Of course, there is still plenty of basketball to play, and quite frankly, while the Sixers (48-27) should stay in the No. 3 spot. The Nets (38-38), who began the evening at No. 6, will likely scratch and claw to make the postseason after Thursday's 123-110 loss to the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center.
Joel Embiid totaled 39 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, and these performances are becoming routine for the Sixers two-time All-Star center. For added measure, he hit 3 of 4 3-pointers.
His backup, Boban Marjanovic had 16 points, shooting 6 for 8 from the field. The Sixers also received 18 points from JJ Redick and 16 points and eight assists from Ben Simmons.
Before the game, Sixers coach Brett Brown and the Nets coach Kenny Atkinson both said facing the other would be a bad matchup for their teams.
What did you expect them to say, that it would be a piece of cake?
Give Brown truth serum and ask who would he prefer in the first round, the Nets or Celtics?
Still, one can see Brown's consternation with facing the Nets.
This year the Sixers went 2-2 against the Nets and in their previous win over Brooklyn, they needed a Jimmy Butler 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in a 127-125 win.
The Nets have a youthful team with plenty of energy. Even after trailing by 20 points in the second quarter, and 18 in the fourth, the Nets kept pecking away.
They cut the Sixers lead to 104-94 on a 3-pointer by the NBA leading 3-point percentage shooter Joe Harris with eight minutes left.
The closest from there, however the Nets would get was within nine points.
When Embiid scored inside on a feed from Butler to give the Sixers a 118-105 lead with three minutes left, there was finally enough cushion to exhale.
Brooklyn has little margin for error, especially when All-Star point guard D'Angelo Russell is having an off night. Russell scored 13 points and shot 6 for 19 with seven turnovers. Harris led the Nets with 22 points.
The win should also halt the panic showed by the Sixers faithful after consecutive road losses to Atlanta and Orlando.
The Sixers still have plenty of lapses and will certainly use the final seven games for some much needed fine-tuning.
Yet there doesn't appear to be any potential No. 6 seed capable of beating the Sixers in a first-round playoff series.
