Thursday night’s Nets-76ers game has been pretty heated, as many expected with the first matchup between the teams since they swapped Ben Simmons and James Harden earlier in the year.
Simmons, who has been hearing from Philly fans all day, still hasn’t made his season debut. Harden is playing, but hasn’t been much more impactful, with 11 points on just 3-of-15 shooting. The other two stars in the matchup—Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid—have come up big, and after Embiid sent KD flying in the post, the two got into it, jawing back and forth.
The back-and-forth didn’t escalate beyond words, and the referees didn’t intervene, which drew praise from one of the game’s biggest viewers, Lakers forward LeBron James.
James is taking in what has been a statement performance for the eighth-place Nets so far, and while Embiid has dominated, Brooklyn’s stars have helped them jump into a sizable second-half lead.
