It's gonna be one of the great jaw-dropping box scores of the season: How the hell did Bojan Bogdanvoic drop 44 on the Philadelphia 76ers? The Brooklyn Nets forward nearly doubled his previous season high last night against the visiting Sixers, hitting 17 of 27 from the field and four of nine from deep, and even adding eight boards and a couple assists for good measure. He wasn't the only reason the Nets nearly went wire-to-wire in this one, but he was certainly the biggest and the least liekly, as the Nets escaped losing the season series to Philly by winning 131-114.
Of course, the breakout game for Bogie (the Nets announcers' nickname for Bogdanovic, incredibly) seems less impossible when you consider that he spent much of the game being guarded by Nik Stauskas and Kendall Marshall. The critically undersized Sixers — still missing Jahlil, Jerami, Richaun, and Robert — were often forced to pass of guards as forwards in this one, and Hollis Thompson actually spent a not-inconsiderable amount of time as our all-time inconsiderable stretch four. The result, unsurprisingly, was a dearth of rim protection, rebounding, and post defense, as the Nets' frontcourt essentially ran wild on us — Thaddeus Young and Brook Lopez complemented Bogdanovic's career night with a combined 32 points, 26 boards, and eight assists.
To the Sixers' credit, they fought all game, and even managed to cut a 20-something lead to single digits in the fourth quarter. But they just couldn't get the stops they needed, and there were too many pivotal gimmes and easy boards that they ended up whiffing on, letting game momentum sneak away in the interim. (Former Sixers D-League great Sean Kilpatrick also got his revenge on the club for keeping him in the minors, scoring 19 and hitting the biggest shot of the game after Nerlens failed to secure a carom off the offensive glass.) You wouldn't want to be Brett Brown's upstairs neighbor once he got home last night, certainly.
Next up: the Washington Wizards at home on Thursday. Send your healing energy towards our players over 6'6", please, and pray that we don't have to see Sonny Weems hit the side of the backboard on a corner three again.