Kevin Durant admitted that the Nets wanted to win Thursday night’s hyped matchup with the 76ers for Ben Simmons, who heard it from the Philadelphia crowd all night, but once it was over, Brooklyn was already looking ahead to what’s next.
It can’t afford to do anything else, even with all of the anticipated narratives swirling around the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday. Despite the first battle against James Harden since the trade, or Simmons’ return to his former home court, or the Durant/Embiid star matchup, there is simply too much work to be done for the Nets to be worried about claiming first chapters in a potential Eastern Conference rivalry.
“It's a regular-season win,” Durant said after he and the Nets blew out the Sixers. “Did we win a championship tonight? No. Did we get to clinch a playoff spot? No.”
As for the game itself, it was certainly one the Nets needed, as they look to pull themselves out of a play-in spot now that a healthy Durant is back in the fold. Consecutive wins against the Hornets and Sixers is a good start, but time is running out to climb up to the sixth spot in the East, as Brooklyn sits five games back of that spot with 15 to play.
Fans and media members salivated at the narratives heading into Thursday’s matchup, but Durant doesn’t see any added satisfaction to beating down Embiid and the 76ers. It was just another step towards the team’s goal of avoiding the play-in.
“For you guys on the outside with the whole James [Harden] situation and the entertainment aspect of it, I’m sure it was bigger,” Durant said. “But for us, we move on to the next one.”
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