Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons Explain Sixers' Fourth Quarter Struggles vs. Nets

Heading into Wednesday night's matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, the Philadelphia 76ers had a massive advantage. Not only were the Nets without James Harden as expected, but they also sat Kevin Durant as he's managing an injury.

Despite being the healthier team on Wednesday, the Sixers knew they still had to take Brooklyn seriously. For starters, earlier in the year, the Nets faced the Sixers without any of their big three on the floor, and the Nets came out on top with a win.

While Wednesday's game couldn't necessarily serve as a barometer for the 76ers to see how well they truly match up against their most notable competition, a victory over Brooklyn would give the Sixers sole possession of first place and ownership of the tie-breaker, which could be critical at the end of the year.

Through the first half, the Sixers were in total control of the matchup. After outscoring the Nets in both quarters, the 76ers went to the locker room at halftime ahead 65-58. Considering they had all of the momentum and Brooklyn didn't have too many reinforcements, it felt like an "old school load management" night was beginning to brew for the 76ers when the third quarter rolled around. 

But something went wrong as the game progressed. The Sixers took their foot off the gas, and Brooklyn's bench came in with nothing to lose and stole all of the momentum. Before you knew it, the Nets were right back in the game as they outscored the 76ers in the fourth quarter.

“That fourth quarter, that comeback, it was just weird,” said Sixers center Joel Embiid. “I will say, I felt like I sat too long, and I kinda lost my rhythm. Them fronting and trapping had nothing to do with our play in that stretch when I came back. We just didn’t have the same physicality that we had for the first three quarters.”

As the Sixers' bench played a good chunk of the final period, Joel Embiid sat on the bench for roughly eight minutes before checking in to wrap up the matchup. By the time the lead scorer of the night checked back in, he had struggled to find his rhythm again as he only got up one shot, which he missed, and turned the ball over twice.

“It’s basketball,” said Sixers starting point guard, Ben Simmons. “Things like that happen. Obviously, you don’t want it to happen, especially a run like that with who they had in at the time. We got to hold ourselves accountable in situations like that. We got to close out games, and that’s on us. We just got to lock-in in the fourth quarter and not get too excited about the score late in games.”

Although they nearly dropped the ball late in the game where they controlled the matchup for three quarters, the Sixers ultimately finished the game with another victory. By taking the Nets down 123-117, the 76ers advanced to 38-17 and are sitting alone in first place once again.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.