According to each head coach Jacque Vaughn and star ahead Kevin Durant, there is no such thing as a true rivalry between the Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers.
It’s laborious to consider given the latest historical past between the 2 groups: James Harden compelled his method from Brooklyn to Philadelphia ultimately 12 months’s commerce deadline, and each Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid threw Ben Simmons below the bus after a very poor collection of performs within the 76ers’ Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks within the second spherical of the 2021 playoffs.
That was the final sport Simmons ever performed in a Sixers jersey: He sat out all the entrance half of the season and cited psychological well being points earlier than the commerce for Harden and has been suffocated with boos in every occasion he’s returned to Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.
For Vaughn, nevertheless, the added juice comes merely from trying on the Eastern Conference standings: After dropping 4 straight video games instantly following Durant’s damage, the Nets fell from second within the East to fourth and at the moment are a sport and a half behind the Sixers for the second seed within the convention.
“More than anything, it’s Philly is a game and a half above us in the standings, and I think that makes it important,” Vaughn mentioned. “You’re playing an Eastern Conference team, and you don’t know what the results are gonna be at the end of the year. I think at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing.”
Durant, then again, is uncertain NBA rivalries really exist anymore.
“Rivalries in the NBA are not really a thing, in my opinion,” he mentioned. “It’s going to be a battle amongst each fan base on social media, but as far as the players, it’s another game on the schedule, and each team is trying to get better and improve.”
One factor is definite: There will probably be a rivalry between Sixers followers and Simmons, fairly probably in perpetuity. Simmons has already performed in entrance of Sixers followers as soon as this season, however neither Embiid nor Harden performed that night time.
Vaughn isn’t too involved with how Simmons handles one other visceral response from Philly followers as a result of he’s already gone by way of it. He is extra involved that Simmons continues to spherical into All-Star kind after lacking all of final season and subsequently present process offseason again surgical procedure.
The precedence for Simmons, Vaughn says, it to proceed taking part in with pressure each minute he’s on the ground. It’s been a sticking level for months: the Nets need Simmons to provide all the pieces he has on each possession.
“He’s definitely taken some strides that way. Now it’s more possessions. Let’s accomplish that. More,” Vaughn mentioned. “We’re gonna continue to ask more of him.”
Vaughn particularly mentioned he needs Simmons to turn into more practical in offensive possessions the place the ball is just not in his arms.
“Ben is very comfortable with the ball in his hands,” he mentioned. “Now we’re asking him to do different issues with the basketball, with out the basketball, and I feel he’s rising in these areas.
“You saw it in Golden State, whether it was him rolling, receiving a pass, and then dribbling and penetrating the paint and finding Royce [O’Neale for an open three]. Whether it was you seeing [starting center Nic Claxton] and Ben away from the rim, and then all of a sudden getting into some action. So there’s some space that we’re asking him to grow in that’s a little bit different that we think we can make some money on.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com