Game 4 had a distinctly MVP-shaped hole in the middle throughout, evident in both the Nets' strong start — 29 points in the first quarter, a 15-point, seven-rebound, four-block first half for Brooklyn center Nic Claxton — and in Philadelphia's consistent struggles to put the ball in the basket. Through the first three games of the series, the Sixers had scored
“We were getting good shots, especially in the first half — I mean, we had 40 points, but I missed four layups, we missed some open threes,” Harden said after the game. “We were getting really good looks, and they only had 48 points, so at some point we knew our offense had to get it going.” “It was like, ‘Look, let’s just figure out a way to get three stops in a row, and get out and try to get some easy baskets,’” said Tobias Harris, who routinely used his size, strength and smooth midrange game to hunt mismatches against smaller Brooklyn defenders en route to a team-high 25 points and 12 rebounds. “And I thought we were able to do that, able to get some buckets to fall for us. But once we got our lead, we knew. Like, ‘We just got to sustain this.