The night began being about Ben Simmons, but ended up being a referendum on James Harden.
If you feared the treading .500 Brooklyn Nets, this is what scares you.
If you had doubts about the Philadelphia 76ers, and thought they played a little too much into the bravado and emotion of the evening, it was laid bare in a 29-point thrashing.
And those warts were naked for the entire Eastern Conference to see, resulting in boos that were supposedly reserved for the inactive Simmons yet transferred easily to the lifeless, confused outfit that took the floor Thursday night.