What is the story about?
Well, you better hope you don’t see this team in the Play-In tournament!
The Sixers fell 125-116 to the Atlanta Hawks Saturday night, losing all four matchups in the regular season.
They are 34-29 and are now a half game behind the Orlando Magic for the sixth seed in the East.
Tyrese Maxey off a scorching first quarter led the Sixers with 31 points along five assists shooting 12-of-22 from the floor. More importantly though, he appeared to injure his shooting hand in the final seconds of the game.
Kelly
Oubre Jr. hit the ground running after missing the last two games with an illness, putting up 24 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals shooting 10-of-15.
Not only did he win his personal battle with Onyeka Okongwu, but Quentin Grimes dropped 26 on 9-of-14 shooting. Jalen Johnson led all scorers with 35.
Joel Embiid (oblique strain), Paul George (suspension), and VJ Edgecombe (lumbar contusion) were all out for the Sixers while Jonathan Kuminga was out for Atlanta with left knee inflammation.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- A fiery start for both offenses, with Maxey and Oubre both able to bully their way into their first floaters of the game before Oubre found a rolling Adem Bona for a dunk. Quentin Grimes committed a big no-no, fouling a three-point shooter, but he buried his first pull-up three to make up for that. The sign of everything falling for Atlanta was Dyson Daniels banking in a three from above the break.
- Oubre’s start made it easy to see how missed he was the past two games. Blocking off passing lanes with Dominick Barlow was the only resistance the Sixers got defensively early. As they got more hands on the ball the Sixers were able to put together a run. Maxey picking Daniels’ pocket capped off nine unanswered Sixers’ points.
- A big reason the offense looked good and got a lot of easy baskets early was how well they moved the ball. Nine of their 15 field goals in the quarter were assisted, with plenty of nice passes to highlight in there. They had a nice tic-tac-toe possession that ended with a wide open Andre Drummond charging for a dunk. Maxey threw a one-handed skip pass to the corner for an Oubre three. Maxey was just as effective scoring off the dribble, putting up 15 in the quarter to help the Sixers get out to a 10-point lead.
Second Quarter
- One of the reserves who helped the first quarter end well and continued that to start the second was Cam Payne. On top of setting the floor well with five first half assists he was also poking the ball away from guys with success, with two early steals he converted into transition baskets. Trendon Watford didn’t check in until the second but had some quality minutes as well, finishing buckets for Payne before finding a cutting Jabari Walker for a basket of his own.
- Watford got under the skin of Daniels, likely by shoving him, so much so that Daniels gave him a hearty push in between plays, causing a small raucous. Initially it seemed that Daniels would get tossed but after replay revealed Watford wasn’t a totally innocent party double techs were given out so everyone could move on.
- It feels like it’s been a while, but the Sixers were generating a lot of turnovers. The Hawks gave it away 13 times in the half and seven of those were steals. The only negative was those turnovers were the majority of stops they got in the half. The Hawks still shot 53.9% from the field.
- That came back on the Sixers when they went without a field goal for over three minutes, surrendering a 9-0 run by the Hawks. It was another rough defensive shift for Drummond, with the Hawks scoring six of those nine points in the paint. Threes from Maxey and Grimes halted that momentum, helping the Sixers’ lead stay at seven heading into the break.
Third Quarter
- It really is like clockwork. The Hawks came storming out of the break, taking their first lead since the opening minutes of the game with a slew of baskets at the rim. Oubre stopped the bleeding for the time being by driving to the basket. Grimes attempted yet another poster but had to settle for drawing a foul on Onyeka Okongwu. He had a better beat on it a few possessions later — Okongwu made a business decision and Grimes let him hear about it.
- Grimes continued to get the upper hand of the exchange, beating Okongwu again at the rim with an up-and-under layup. Those flashy baskets were all the Sixers were able to muster during this stretch of the quarter. On top of Johnson’s drives, Nickeil Alexander-Walker found his three-point stroke to keep the Hawks afloat.
- Turns out a Sixer did have a poster in them, as Oubre threw one down over Jock Landale. Unfortunately Oubre made the Hawks’ next two baskets very easy on them, inadvertently tipping a missed shot into his own hoop before getting his pocket picked for an easy transition basket. Grimes was really the only source of life in the third, getting to the basket for a potential and-1 to pull the Sixers within one. He missed the free throw though, and fouled CJ McCollum taking a midrange on the final possession of the quarter, pushing the Hawks’ lead back up to three.
Fourth Quarter
- After dominating the possession battle for most of the game, the Sixers committed some really silly turnovers that stopped them from getting out of the gate to stop the fourth. They opened the quarter with an eight-second violation despite not a ton of full-court pressure from the Hawks. A Grimes turnover led to an easy bucket and Watford picking up his fourth foul of the game, and Watford threw up a bad shot that went out of bounds over the basket.
- Those turnovers didn’t hurt the Sixers too much, muscling their way to the basket a couple of times tied the game back up. As soon as they had they let up a quick 8-0 run. It was surprising to see Drummond on the floor so much with the Sixers unable to get stops. It’s really frustrating when he can’t even win the rebounding battle. Zaccarie Risacher ripped an offensive board away from him, leading to an alley-oop to push the Hawks lead to double digits.
- Johnson getting T’d up was huge as the Hawks were getting close to putting the Sixers away for the night. After converting the free throw, Oubre and Grimes each knocked down a three to pull them right back. The center position continued to trouble the Sixers even after Bona replaced Drummond. Bona dropped a pocket pass and wasn’t able to corral it enough to make the push shot. A few possessions later he got called for an initial screen. Johnson got him on a switch and blew by him for a dunk, and that basket effectively put the game away with the Sixers offense again going too cold in the second half.
- A frustrating loss that pushes them further down the Eastern Conference standings was bad enough, but somehow the loss got worse. In the final seconds of the game the Sixers stole an inbounds pass, but in doing so Maxey and Bona collided. Maxey was writhing on the ground in pain, prompting a timeout and Maxey’s removal from the game. This team was already in big trouble, if this is serious they are flat out cooked.
