76ers Erase Doubts In Dominating Performance, Eliminate Nets

PHILADELPHIA, PA — For the fourth game in a row, the 76ers silenced the hordes of doubters that came crawling out of the woodworks following their Game 1 loss. They did it with their arguably their most dominating postseason performance of The Process era, leading by a mammoth 60-31 at the half and ultimately winning 122-100 to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second straight year.

It was the exclamation mark on a series that reversed course the moment Game 1 ended, or perhaps the moment 12 or so hours later that New York tabloids began alleging discord in the Philadelphia locker room that for some reason was just emerging now, drumming up a shred of hope in Brooklyn for the sixth seed.

The Nets battled hard but were ultimately overmatched, offering no real answer for Joel Embiid once they discovered the rumors of his demise had been greatly exaggerated.

The big man led the way for the Sixers again on Tuesday, leading all scorers with 23 points and 13 rebounds. As a team, the Sixers shot 51 percent from the floor, while the Nets only managed 38 percent, a huge part of why they were held to 31 points in the first half.

Indeed, despite a frustrating Game 1 for the Sixers, this series was never as close as the post-Game 1 public meltdown would lead you to believe. With the Sixers starting five on the court, this is how things shook down:

As for Jared Dudley, the now infamous Nets forward who called Ben Simmons "average" and tried to start a fight with Embiid in Game 4 (an altercation that ultimately got Jimmy Butler ejected instead): he played 18 minutes Tuesday, with one rebound, two assists, and no points.

With the Nets headed home, the Sixers will head up to Toronto to face the Raptors for Games 1 and 2 of the East semifinals. The schedule has not yet been announced. It will be the first time the two teams have met in the postseason since 2001.

The winner will face the winner of the other semifinal matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, for the right to face, probably, again, the Golden State Warriors.