On December 31, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Nets lost to the 76ers in a focus battle in the East. In this battle, Durant returned, coupled with Harden, who has been in hot form recently, the Nets have the upper hand in strength. The first half of the game was difficult to score, the 76ers only led by one point, until the final moments of the fourth quarter, the two sides still did not divide the winner, however, the young Maxi suddenly exploded and scored 8 consecutive points, plus in the last 16 seconds Embiid grabbed the offensive rebound to play 2+1, the Nets have been powerless to return to the sky, and finally suffered a loss. After the game, the Nets and the second-place Bulls are only 0.5 wins away, and the first place in the East may not be saved.
In this game, Durant's performance is still stable, 13 of 24 shots, including 3 of 8 three-pointers, 33 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, the 10-day isolation has not affected his feelings at all, and even Embiid said that only Durant in the league has better talent than himself. Harden also continued the excellent form of the first two games, scoring a large triple-double of 33 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, although the three-point shot was only 1 of 5, but the two-point shot of 15 shots maintained a good efficiency, and more importantly, he also got 18 free throw opportunities, of course, he also hit 14 free throws with great enthusiasm. It is worth mentioning that Harden has scored 30+ 10+ assists in the last 3 games, becoming the first in the history of the Nets, which is an achievement that neither Durant nor Irving has achieved. Not only that, but he averaged 36 points, 10.7 rebounds and 11.7 assists in 3 games, and scored 40 free throws. It has to be admitted that Harden is a superstar of high ball quotients who quickly figured out the league's new rules. Unfortunately, the Nets scored 66 points and still lost the game, after the game, Nash said that the team played too lazy, mistakes are the root cause of the loss, according to statistics, the Nets made a total of 17 mistakes in this game, while the 76ers only 7 times.
In addition to Embiid's strong performance, of course, thanks to the young Maxi, who shot 10 of 18 from the field, including 5 of 8 three-pointers, with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, more importantly, he scored 8 consecutive points in the fourth quarter to directly stop the Nets, and even Harden, who has always been unashamed, praised Maxi as a big heart player after the game, and he was extremely threatening in key moments. It is worth mentioning that Maxi was able to play a highlight performance, which was completely forced by Embiid, who directly criticized him after the defeat of the last game. Maxi, who has averaged 16.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 34 minutes this season, shooting 47.5% from the field and 38% from three-point range, has become a stand-in for Simmons, which is one of the important reasons why the 76ers are not in a hurry to trade Simmons.