Sixers-Nets matches Joel Embiid against Ben Simmons in ‘emotional’ game

It took less than two minutes for a Brooklyn Nets defensive switch to place Ben Simmons in front of Joel Embiid with the ball in his hands. And when that one-on-one matchup predictably ignited the home crowd to react inside the Wells Fargo Center, Doc Rivers compared it to spectators watching a boxing match.

“They want to see them drop the basketball, turn and duke it out,” the 76ers coach told his staff on the bench.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid, Sixers get the best of Ben Simmons and the Brooklyn Nets

The Sixers-Nets saga following the blockbuster trade to flip an absent Simmons and a disgruntled James Harden finally hit perhaps its most important benchmark Wednesday night. Embiid and Simmons played against each other for the first time since their fallout as an All-Star tandem and Simmons’ messy departure from Philly.

The result was rare intensity for a late-January regular-season NBA game — an entertaining 137-133 Sixers victory — and perhaps a glimpse of what future matchups could look like when (most of) the main characters are on the court.

“It was not a normal game, as far as that,” Rivers said of the atmosphere. “But I do think now we can get back to the regularly scheduled programming.”

Pick your cliché — slow drip, death by 1,000 paper cuts — to describe how, instead of one supercharged clash, the narrative following the trade has unfolded bit by bit.

In the first post-deal matchup last March, Simmons did not play because of a back injury that would require offseason surgery. Then when they met during the preseason in Brooklyn, Embiid and Harden rested. When Simmons finally played inside his former home arena just before Thanksgiving, Harden, Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey were all out with injuries. And both rosters still were not fully intact Wednesday, as MVP contender Kevin Durant missed the game with a knee sprain that is expected to continue to keep him out a couple of more weeks.

Since the Sixers’ November win, though, both teams have righted their seasons.

After shouldering numerous injuries — most notably, foot ailments that kept Harden and Maxey out for about a month apiece — the Sixers (31-16) have won 19 of their last 23 games, including six in a row. The Nets (29-18), who navigated Durant’s offseason trade request and Kyrie Irving’s suspension for posting a movie with anti-Semitic content on his social media, used a 12-game winning streak to push into the top half of the Eastern Conference playoff standings. Both teams have been as high as second place, where the Sixers now sit.

Although Rivers expressed frustration with the Sixers’ play on both ends Wednesday — allowing Brooklyn to shoot 65% from the floor while running choppy offense — the night featured big-game individual performances and moments.

Seth Curry went off for 32 points, nearly willing the Nets to victory against his former team and current father-in-law. Maxey scored 16 of his 27 points in the first half by going 4-for-5 from three-point distance, including two that dropped in thanks to a “shooter’s bounce” that had him skipping to the other end of the floor in celebration. Harden, in facing his former team, helped squash Brooklyn’s final push with two step-back three-pointers and a driving layup that gave the Sixers a 135-131 lead with less than a minute remaining. That last bucket came just after a ridiculous finish at the rim by Irving, which prompted the legendary Allen Iverson to turn around from his courtside seat on the opposite baseline and mouth, “that [expletive].”

And, of course, the early Simmons-Embiid matchups drew plenty of hullabaloo.

Embiid downplayed that he specifically went at Simmons, saying, “Every single night, [I want to] just frickin’ kill whoever’s in front of me.” The All-NBA big man also claimed not to notice any additional juice in the crowd, saying, “Sixers fans, they’re always like that.”

Yet Embiid’s actions indicated otherwise. Following a finish through contact, Embiid unleashed his wrestling-style “crotch chop” celebration. And when Durant, who was live-tweeting his game commentary, called the gesture “trash,” Embiid responded by quote-tweeting Durant’s post with a video compilation of him and others doing the celebration.

Consider it a continuation from last season, when Embiid waved Durant off the floor following a Sixers’ win at the Barclays Center.

“I haven’t done [the chop] in a while, so I just felt like it was a good and-one,” said Embiid, who finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds after missing Saturday’s win in Sacramento to rest a sore foot. “I got the ball. I got fouled and I threw the ball. I didn’t even see the rim.

“I felt like it was deserving of a good celebration, and that’s why I went to it.”

Perhaps that was an example of what Rivers described as his team getting too “emotional.” Both teams combined for five technical fouls, while several other whistles created stops in game flow that made Rivers feel like “we were going to be here until morning.”

“You want to have intensity and emotion,” Rivers said. “But you don’t want to be emotional. … I just thought we got caught up in all the crap going on tonight.”

Those expectations do not apply to those in the stands, who directed plenty of ire at Simmons. They booed when he was introduced as part of the Nets’ starting lineup, then whenever he had the ball. They mockingly cheered when, after an awful first half in which he had more fouls (three) than points (zero) or field-goal attempts (one), he finally made his first shot in the third quarter.

» READ MORE: Sixers credit brotherhood for their season turnaround and road success: ‘It’s a we season’

But after scoring 10 points during that aggressive frame, Simmons drew a technical foul after shoving a hovering Georges Niang in response to being called for traveling. Then, Simmons did not play down the stretch.

These teams are scheduled to hit another collective checkpoint on Feb. 11, when Harden plays his first game in Brooklyn since the trade. Given both team’s ascensions, a playoff matchup is certainly possible this spring. Rivers hopes that, by then, “the air out will be out of the balloon, as far as us against them.”

Maxey, though, is not so sure.

“It’s going to be like this every single time we play,” he said. “I think we all know that in this room. But that’s what you love. You love competition. That’s why we play this game. We play to win. We play the game for joy. And that’s what the fans want to see.”