Nets prove no match for sizzling Sixers

Brooklyn hardly puts up fight in ugly 121-95 loss in Philadelphia

April 4, 2018 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

J.J. Redick owns a residence in Brooklyn, but he decided to play for Philadelphia this past summer, a move that has paid great dividends as the red-hot Sixers won their 11th in a row Tuesday night against the listless Nets. AP Photo by Chris Szagola

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So much for finishing strong.

The Brooklyn Nets looked disinterested and disengaged throughout Tuesday night’s ugly 121-95 loss to the red-hot and playoff-bound Philadelphia 76ers in front of a sellout crowd of 20,710 fans at the Wells Fargo Center.

In fact, the Nets appeared so apathetic that head coach Kenny Atkinson invented a word to describe the performance, which resulted in Brooklyn’s second straight blowout defeat.

“It was a lay-up-athon,” Atkinson mused after Brooklyn became Philadelphia’s 11th consecutive victim.

“From a physical and mental standpoint, we weren’t focused and ready to play,” he added. “It was evident. We were not engaged physically or mentally and that’s what happens.”

Spencer Dinwiddie scored 16 points and Jahlil Okafor added 15 against his former team for Brooklyn, which was outrebounded by a whopping 56-36 and lost veteran forward DeMarre Carroll to an apparent hip injury early in the second half.

J.J. Redick, who owns a residence in DUMBO but decided to sign with the up-and-coming Sixers this past summer rather than the down-and-out Nets, scored a game-high 19 points for Philadelphia, which is in line to host a first-round playoff series later this month.

Redick ceded that the Nets looked like a team more interested in getting to the offseason than seriously challenging the squad with the league’s longest current winning streak.

“It’s tough when you’re not playing for anything,” Redick told the Associated Press.

“We have to take advantage of teams that aren’t playing for anything. We really imposed our will defensively and the force we played with offensively.”

The Nets have just four games remaining to show some signs of life, beginning with Thursday night’s visit to Milwaukee.