Sixers sweep Nets to advance, Suns on brink as Lakers maul Grizzlies

NEW YORK: The Philadelphia 76ers shook off the absence of Joel Embiid to sweep Brooklyn out of the NBA playoffs on Saturday as the Phoenix Suns closed in on a second-round berth and the Los Angeles Lakers made a statement against Memphis.

The Sixers romped into the next round of the playoffs with a dominant 96-88 victory over the Nets that completed their 4-0 triumph in the best-of-seven series.

Philadelphia trailed by 11 points early in the third quarter but transformed the contest with an 18-4 run to take the lead before closing out victory with a fourth-quarter rally.

The Sixers’ win was all the more impressive given the absence of Most Valuable Player candidate Embiid, who suffered a right knee sprain in Thursday’s 102-97 game three win.

Paul Reed stepped in to fill the void and finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds.

Tobias Harris led the scoring for Philadelphia with 25 points and 12 rebounds, while De’Anthony Melton came off the bench to produce 15 points and lead the fourth-quarter surge.

Harris said the Sixers were determined to use Embiid’s absence as a motivator.

“He’s the MVP. And when we heard he wasn’t playing, I think it was an opportunity for everybody else to really step up and understand that we’ve got to get a win without the big fellow,” Harris told broadcaster TNT.

In the West, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the Lakers let their play answer the trash talking of Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks, exploding out of the gate on the way to a playoff record-tying 35-9 first-quarter lead.

They led by as many as 29 in the second quarter as they rolled to a 111-101 victory.

Davis bounced back from a dismal showing in the Lakers’ Game 2 defeat to score 31 points and grab 17 rebounds.

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