Nic Claxton adds to 76ers' painful season with wild putback game-winner
Today at 10:42 PM
Coming into Saturday's game, the Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers were two teams that were supposed to be heading in opposite directions. The Nets were heading into a rebuild while the 76ers were supposed to be a contender in the Eastern Conference. But the 76ers have slogged through a disappointing season, and Nic Claxton just added to their misery with a putback game-winner for the Nets.
On the final play of the game, with the 76ers and Nets tied at 103 and the Nets having possession, Trendon Watford had the ball out on the perimeter. He dribbled in closer and dished the ball to Keon Johnson on the left arc for the potential game-winner.
Johnson's shot fell short, but Nic Claxton swooped in for the rebound and the putback all in one motion for the ultimate game-winner for the Nets as time expired. Brooklyn walked away with the 105-103 win, while dropping the 76ers to 20-36.
Time is running out for the 76ers to make a potential run in the standings as the playoffs draw near. It doesn't look promising for them, and Joel Embiid recently spoke about the knee injury issues he's battled this season.
On the Nets' side of things, they might actually be not quite where they want to be. During a rebuild, accumulating high draft picks, and draft capital in general, is generally what teams do. The Nets are currently 21-35 and not quite bad enough to be in the running for one of the top lottery picks.
Claxton though has been one of the promising players on the Nets' roster this season. Still only 25 years old, the sixth-year big man has appeared in 48 games at a little over 26 minutes per game.
He's been averaging 10.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.4 blocked shots with splits of 54.2 percent shooting from the field and 51.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
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