James Harden Sees a Positive in Blowout Loss to Nets

Lately, the Philadelphia 76ers have been on a roll. Before Thursday's highly-anticipated matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, the Sixers have won all but one

Lately, the Philadelphia 76ers have been on a roll. Before Thursday's highly-anticipated matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, the Sixers have won all but one matchup since returning from the 2022 NBA All-Star break.

And in the one game they lost, the Sixers were playing the Eastern Conference's top seed on the second night of a back-to-back without their star acquisition, James Harden. After playing in what felt like a planned loss last Saturday, the Sixers returned to the court on Monday and pounced on the Chicago Bulls.

A few nights later, they faced the Nets. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry, and the Nets dominated Harden, Joel Embiid, and the Sixers from start to finish. As Brooklyn led by as much as 24 points in the first half of Thursday's game and possessed a 21-point going into halftime, it was clear the Sixers could be on a path to getting blown out.

Slow starts have been common for the 76ers lately. Therefore, a second-half run could've been in the cards. Unfortunately, Philly never found a way to bounce back. With six turnovers in the third quarter, the Sixers were outscored 30-19 after halftime. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the entire starting five rode the bench for the remainder of the game.

Seeing the Positive

There weren't many positive takeaways from Thursday's game if you're the Sixers. As they were flat-out dominated on both sides of the ball, Brooklyn just simply looked like the better team.

Even though the Sixers didn't have much to like about their Thursday night performance, the ten-time All-Star James Harden found a silver lining.

"Tonight was good for us, man," he said on Thursday. "We got our [expletive] kicked. Since I've been here, things have been sweet, and we've been winning games so tonight was good for us. We get an opportunity to come down to reality, watch the film, and just continue to get better and make sure we're in the right strides."

The Sixers had an off day on Friday and will return to practice on Saturday afternoon before traveling to Orlando to start a back-to-back. On Sunday, the Sixers will play the 18-50 Orlando Magic, which should be an opportunity for the Sixers to work through their issues and gain their confidence back after a hard loss.

Then, they'll return home on Monday for another tough battle against the defending MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. 

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