Sixers Bell Ringer: Seth Curry’s torrid shooting not enough as Philadelphia goes cold late in loss to Brooklyn

Sixers Bell Ringer regular season standings

Furkan Korkmaz: 1

In their first nationally televised contest of the year, the Philadelphia 76ers squared off against a division foe, the Brooklyn Nets. Despite holding a 10-point lead under the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter, they fell 114-109 and moved to 1-1 on the season. It’s time to talk Bell Ringer. Let’s get to it.

Seth Curry: 23 points, four rebounds, two blocks, one steal

After a quiet 2021-22 debut, Curry returned to his playoff self and raced out to a 16-point first half on 7-of-9 shooting. He converted numerous jumpers off the bounce, was cooking in dribble hand-offs and side pick-and-rolls with Joel Embiid and consistently got to his rhythm spots on the perimeter. Defensively, he applied his frame well for some serviceable on-ball stops and even snagged three combined steals or blocks. The jumper was falling early for Curry and he was critical to Philadelphia’s efforts in controlling most of the game.

Tobias Harris: 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists

Similar to his veteran teammate, Harris was prolific during the initial 24 minutes with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting before halftime. On the break, he was aggressive in bullying his way through Brooklyn’s undersized defenders to attack the rim and generally found creases on the floor for good looks. He even knocked down a few contested jumpers, an area of emphasis for him this past offseason. Yet in the second half, he scored just four points on 2-of-8 shooting and was one of many Sixers who went quiet when they needed some timely baskets. It almost felt like a reverse of Wednesday, when he struggled early and burst through later to help fuel a victory.

Andre Drummond: Four points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocks

In what feels like a nightly occurrence through six preseason and regular season games, Drummond was stellar off the bench. He continued to form a dynamic partnership with Furkan Korkmaz in ball screens, cleaned up the glass with 10 boards in 18 minutes, threaded a beautiful dime for an assist and executed some valuable rotations as a rim protector. As has been the case for his entire, albeit brief, Sixers tenure, he leveraged lively hands into takeaways and has been nothing short of very good defensively through two regular season outings. There will be down performances at some point and the occasional gaffe persists, but he was, once again, excellent.