Nets at 76ers
A painful home loss has the Brooklyn Nets on the brink of elimination but they're not ready to give in entering Game 5 of the Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday at the Philadelphia 76ers. "We were right there," guard Spencer Dinwiddie told reporters after Saturday's 104-101 loss put the Sixers up 3-1. "We feel like we should've won. We weren't saying this was a learning experience when we won Game 1. So we can't fall back on that now. We need to try to pull off something incredible."
To do so, sixth-seeded Brooklyn will need to keep its emotions in check following a contest that saw multiple ejections after a scrum along the baseline. All-Star center Joel Embiid, whose flagrant foul on Nets big man Jarrett Allen touched off the pushing and shoving, led the way for No. 3 seed Philadelphia with 31 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and six blocked shots after sitting out Game 3 with a knee issue. "Look at the magnitude of what the numbers say," Sixers coach Brett Brown told reporters after the contest. "He was dominant. He was dominant." Embiid has two flagrant fouls in the playoffs, two shy of earning himself a one-game suspension.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT, NBCS Philadelphia
ABOUT THE NETS: The backcourt duo of Caris LeVert and D'Angelo Russell combined for 46 points in Game 4 while Allen had his best game of the series with 21 points and eight boards, but the Nets are still trying to get 3-point specialist Joe Harris going. Harris missed all six of his long-range attempts in the Game 4 loss and is 0-for-12 in the three straight defeats after making 3-of-4 in the victory in Game 1. "Joe's the best 3-point shooter in the league, so we're going to have the utmost confidence in him to hit," Dinwiddie told reporters. "He's played, what, 75 games, 80 games this year and been the best 3-point shooter in the league. We're not going to give up on him now because of three playoffs games: That's not going to happen."
ABOUT THE 76ERS: Embiid missed 14 of the final 24 regular-season games, was limited to an average of 22.5 minutes through the first two games of the series and missed Game 3, so there is the chance that the team could choose to rest him Tuesday with a 3-1 series advantage. Guard Ben Simmons carried the team without Embiid in Game 3 with 31 points and nine assists, and forward Tobias Harris has been a force as the series has dragged on. After scoring four points in the Game 1 loss, Harris is averaging 24 points to go along with 9.7 rebounds in the three straight wins.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets PF Ed Davis (ankle) missed Game 4 and his status is uncertain for Tuesday.
2. Brooklyn SF Jared Dudley was fined $25,000 and Sixers SG Jimmy Butler was fined $15,000 for their roles in the altercation in Game 4. Nets general manager Sean Marks was suspended a game without pay and fined $25,000 for entering the referees' locker room after Game 4.
3. LeVert is averaging 21.8 points in the series while making 11-of-23 3-pointers.