PHILADELPHIA — Royce O’Neale tapped the stanchion with two hands while his teammates retreated to the bench with slumped shoulders. Jacque Vaughn had just called a timeout.
Facing a double-digit lead in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, the Nets’ coach may as well have thrown in the towel.
Adjustments and depth win playoff games. Lack of each leaves a team on the ropes.
Which is where the Nets find themselves — on the ropes — after a valiant effort fell short in a 96-84 loss to the Sixers in Game 2 in front of a raucous, sold-out crowd at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday.
The Nets anticipated the Sixers would pick up where they left in Game 1, double-teaming star wing Mikal Bridges and limiting him to just seven second-half points on Saturday. The plan was to show help that allowed Bridges to make an easy pass against a blitzing defense.
It worked early.
In the first half, Cam Johnson was the beneficiary. He scored 10 points in the first quarter and ran up 22 by halftime, including a one-handed, cock-back tomahawk dunk over presumptive league MVP and star Sixers center Joel Embiid.
And then, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers deployed the same strategy he used for Bridges: His Sixers began blitzing Johnson on the touch. They also continued blitzing Bridges, turning him more into a playmaker than the scorer who helped salvage the Nets’ season after the midseason trade.
Bridges finished with 21 points and seven assists.
That’s the line of demarcation — two games in — between a Nets team happy to be the sixth seed and a Sixers team with bigger fish to fry in pursuit of the franchise’s first NBA title in 40 years.
The Sixers have explosive scorers at almost every position.
Once again, the Nets did a good job of containing Embiid, who finished under his season average for the second straight game. The Sixers’ star big man finished with only 20 points but dominated on the glass with 19 rebounds.
He picked the Nets apart with the pass. Every time the Nets sent an extra body his way, the best player in basketball made the right play.
And after a first half that held Embiid to just two-of-five shooting for eight points, the Nets reverted back to Game 1′s gameplan of doubling the big man on the catch, no matter where he was on the floor. It backfired and often left Tyrese Maxey wide-open. Maxey pelted the Nets for six threes on 13 attempts.
Down the stretch, the Nets went small and benched starting center Nic Claxton in favor of a lineup that played reserve forward Royce O’Neale at the five.
Embiid responded by driving by O’Neale, through a Seth Curry strip attempt, to the rim for a two-handed dunk before rocking on the rim.
On the very next possession, when the Nets sent a double, Embiid rifled a pass over the smaller defenders to a wide-open Maxey, whose corner three put the Sixers up by nine with less than two minutes left in the fourth.
Johnson hit five threes for the Nets for a team-high 28 points, but no other Nets had favorable shooting nights. The rest of the team shot 8-of-31 from downtown. Starters not named Johnson shot 5-of-17 from deep and 14-of-40 from the field.
The Nets have two days off to make adjustments for the Sixers, who now hold a 2-0 series lead.
History suggests the Nets are on the ropes. 93% of teams to take a 2-0 series lead go on to advance to the next round.
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