According to the NBA schedule, the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets will meet at the end of the regular season, or at least a team from the Atlantic Division.
It won’t exactly serve as a preview of the teams’ playoff first round matchup, which will begin next weekend in Philadelphia. Instead, most of each team’s main players will be on the bench Sunday in Brooklyn to watch the game.
For the second time in the past five postseasons, the Nets (45-36) will face the 76ers (53-28). Philadelphia prevailed in the final four games of their 2019 first-round series before losing in seven games to the eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors in the semifinals.
The Nets acquired superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant after that season, and the two remained teammates until just before the All-Star break this season, when both had requests to be traded granted. After trading Durant to the Phoenix Suns as part of a four-team deal, the Nets are 13-14, but they are one win ahead of where they were last year and have won six of their last eight games, coming off a five-game skid that dropped them to seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
To secure the No. 1 spot, Brooklyn needed to beat Orlando or lose to Miami at Washington on Friday. Eastern Conference’s sixth-ranked seed. In the end, the Nets won by a score of 101-84, which came about 15 minutes after the Wizards beat the Heat.
In 37 minutes, Mikal Bridges, who was acquired from Phoenix in exchange for Durant, scored 22 points. Since joining the NBA in 2018, Bridges has never missed a game, and he may play limited minutes Sunday to maintain his streak.
When the Boston Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday to secure the second spot, Philadelphia secured the third seed. On Thursday, the Sixers lost to Miami 129-101, and Joel Embiid didn’t play in Friday’s overtime win over Atlanta, 136-131, when the Hawks shot 55.4 percent.
Embiid is probably going to sit again Sunday and will come out on top for the scoring championship with 33.1 focuses per game to complete somewhat in front of Dallas star Luka Doncic (32.4), who isn’t supposed to play in the Nonconformists’ season finale.
On Friday, Philadelphia also benched P.J. Tucker, Tyrese Maxey, James Harden, and Tobias Harris. Jalen McDaniels and Georges Niang scored 24 each without their starters, while Danuel House Jr. added 22 and Jaden Springer scored a career-high 19.
