Sixers close season with win over Chicago, await Nets in playoffs
The Sixers and Nets split their four games this season with a 125-109 rout Wednesday.
The 82-game dress rehearsal is finally over and now it’s time for the postseason for the 76ers. The season ended with a 125-109 rout of the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Jonathon Simmons scored a team-high 20 points for the Sixers.
The Sixers (51-31) will face the No. 6 Brooklyn Nets (42-40) when the playoffs open this weekend. The first game in the series will be 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Philadelphia.
» READ MORE: Sixers-Nets playoff schedule
This season the Sixers and Nets split four extremely competitive games. While this is the Sixers’ second straight trip to the postseason, the Nets are making their first appearance since the 2014-15 season.
The most recent game between the two was the Sixers’ 123-110 home win over the Nets on March 28, when Joel Embiid scored 39 points and added 13 rebounds and six assists.
The Nets’ D’Angelo Russell, an All-Star point guard, averaged 21 points and 7.3 assists in the four games against the Sixers. Embiid averaged 30 points, 14.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists against the Nets.
With the third seed in the Eastern Conference clinched and no chance to move up or down, the Sixers rested all five starters.
Here is how it was listed on the NBA injury report: Jimmy Butler (lower back tightness), Embiid (load management, and left knee soreness), Tobias Harris (rest), JJ Redick (back tightness, left quad bruise), and Ben Simmons (dental procedure).
Also out were Jonah Bolden (left knee soreness) and James Ennis (right quad bruise). Ennis’ status will be updated in another week.
The team will enter the postseason with confidence even though the current starting lineup has played only 10 games together (going 8-2 in the process).
The Sixers were eliminated in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last year by the Boston Celtics. Sixers coach Brett Brown, speaking before the game, did not back down from his preseason goal of reaching the NBA Finals.
“But to me, the goal can’t change,” Brown said. “That is the way it is. I own it, and will coach like that.”