Doc Rivers gave James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers some good, old tongue-lashing in the second half of Monday night's game against the Brooklyn Nets, and somehow did the trick in lighting a fire under the Sixers.

“Cursing us out,” James Harden what Rivers told the team when the Sixers head coach called a timeout in the third quarter when he sensed that Philadelphia was taking things lightly on the floor, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “That's it. Just cursing us out.

From that point forward, the Sixers looked unstoppable, manhandling the Nets the rest of the way. The Sixers outscored Brooklyn in the third period, 24-14. In the fourth quarter, Philadelphia put up 28 points to just 21 by Brooklyn, with the Sixers ending up with a 96-84 victory to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.

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On paper, James Harden and the Sixers look too much for Brooklyn. The Nets showed some fight in the first half, with Philadelphia taking just a five-point lead at the end of the second quarter. But the complexion of the game completely changed in favor of the Sixers after that timeout and verbal outburst from Rivers, who can't afford his Sixers to take their foot off the pedal against Brooklyn.

James Harden scored just eight points but dished out seven assists and had four steals in 38 minutes. Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and  Tyese Maxey dealt the most damage to the Nets, with Maxey scoring 33 points to lead all scorers.

Game 3 of the series is scheduled to be played on Thursday at Barclays Center.