Danny Green, Sixers not sure what to make of Nets for future matchups
The Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets are meeting up on Wednesday night for the third and final time of the 2020-21 season with the teams splitting their first two games of the season. The winner of Wednesday’s game will hold the tiebreaker for the potential No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
While the teams have already seen each other twice, the Nets have had key players miss games in both matchups and they will be missing a lot of players on Wednesday.
They did not have Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving and had not yet traded for James Harden for their first matchup in January, they were missing Durant and Irving again in their last matchup in February, and on Wednesday, they will be missing Durant and Harden as well as new additions Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge. They will face Irving on Wednesday for the first time this season.
While both teams will be challenging each other for a spot in the NBA Finals in July, the Sixers are not sure what to make of the Nets due to not facing them at full strength.
“It might be a strategic thing for them,” said Danny Green. “I know in San Antonio, some games we didn’t play everybody so that teams don’t know how to guard us, how to play us, but I just think for them, it’s unfortunate. They’ve had some injuries and they’ve had some guys with some family issues going on so that sucks, but they’re a tough matchup regardless.”
Green is right about that. The Spurs would hold out a lot of guys such as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili in order to have them ready for the playoffs and to not show their hand too much in the regular season.
If the Sixers and the Nets are to match up in the playoffs, Philadelphia will not really know what to expect out of them. Come postseason time, Brooklyn will most likely have all three of their stars healthy for that matchup. The Sixers have not seen that team just yet.
“For the future, I think this is the last time we play them for the rest of the season,” Green added. “We won’t know how, if we come to that meeting with them in the playoffs, how we’ll match up, but it’s never easy.”
In a future playoff matchup, Philadelphia will really have to rely more on watching film and making sure they are ready for that future matchup rather than what they saw in person.
“I respect every team regardless of who’s on the floor,” Green finished. “They also have other guys that are have been All-Stars, have been All-NBA Team type players. We got to come out the same focus, same energy, but it’s hard to gauge and get a feel for a team when they’re never 100% when you play them.”
The Sixers and the Nets will tip-off at 7 p.m. EDT at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
