PHILADELPHIA — This was a bad loss for the 76ers, likely the worst of the season, all things considered.
The Atlanta Hawks came into the Wells Fargo Center Thursday without most of their key players and losers of seven of their last 10 games. Yet they pulled out a 98-96 victory thanks to a balanced attack.
As bad as this outcome was, it was far from surprising. This marked the Sixers’ fourth consecutive game against a squad playing with fewer key players than them. They lost three of those games.
This one was decided when Joel Embiid misfired on 21-foot jumper with 0.2 seconds remaining. The four-time All-Star center finished with a game-high 23 points to go with 10 rebounds.
The loss dropped the Sixers to 16-16, while the Hawks improved to 15-16.
This game was the equivalent of a split-squad game. Both teams had replacement and two-way players in the rotation after being decimated by COVID-19 and injuries.
The Sixers went with their 17th different starting lineup of the season with Furkan Korkmaz starting alongside Matisse Thybulle, Tobias Harris, Embiid and Seth Curry. Normal starting point guard Tyrese Maxey was the sixth man after missing the last two games with a left quadriceps contusion. Tyler Johnson had three points in 11 minutes, 1 second of action after signing with the Sixers as a replacement player on Wednesday.
John Collins was the Hawks’ only opening-day starter in Thursday’s lineup. A lot of that had to do with Atlanta having seven players in health and safety protocols and three others sidelined with injuries.
Meanwhile, the Sixers had four players in protocols while Ben Simmons hasn’t played this season while requesting a trade.
Coping with COVID
Sixers small forward Danny Green along with reserve Andre Drummond, Shake Milton, and Georges Niang were sidelined after being placed in the health and safety protocols.
Niang was placed in protocols on Dec. 15 and coach Doc Rivers had expected him return Monday night against the Boston Celtics.
“His numbers and he just hasn’t passed the [COVID] test,” Rivers said of Niang remaining sidelined.
Asked how Green is feeling, Rivers said, “Everyone’s good.”
“I think Shake had symptoms,” he added. “Danny said he felt normal. George said he felt normal today.”
The coach also said he has spoken to Simmons lately. However, Rivers said he’s unaware of any progression towards a possible return to the team.
“That’s the stuff that I intentionally stayed out of,” he said. “I have enough on my plate. I didn’t feel like I needed to add that.”
The Hawks were more decimated than the Sixers.
Clint Capela, Sharife Cooper, Danilo Gallinari, Kevin Huerter, Trae Young, and former Sixers Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Lou Williams were sidelined because of protocols. Meanwhile, Solomon Hill (right hamstring tightness) and De’Andre Hunter (right wrist injury recovery) were also out.
For Bogdan Bogdanovic, this marked his second game back from an ankle injury. But he came off the bench like in Wednesday’s loss to the Orlando. And it didn’t help the Hawks that Cam Reddish (right ankle sprain) and Delon Wright (sprained ankle) left with injuries in the second half.
Struggles against Hawks
The Sixers missed nine of their first 12 shots and trailed by 21-7 early. Things were so bad that Harris inadvertently scored a basket for the Hawks while trying to grab a defensive rebound underneath the basket. The ball bounced off his hands and into the basket, giving the Hawks a 26-13 lead with 2 minutes, 5 seconds left in the first quarter.
But Harris got things together late in the second quarter.
He scored eight straight points before the Sixers to close the gap to one point (46-45) with 2:47 left in the half. They later knotted the score at 51 on Thybulle’s alley-oop dunk with 30.8 seconds before intermission.
The Sixers battled back from seven- and six-point deficits to knot the score in the second. Then they took an 85-84 lead on Thybulle’s alley-oop dunk with 7:03 to play.
The lead seesawed several times until Embiid hit a pair of foul shots to put the Sixers up 90-86 with 4:31 left. But the Hawks went 12-6 the rest of the way.
Johnson’s debut
Johnson entered the game with 37.9 seconds left in the first quarter as the Sixers’ ninth man off the bench. It was obvious that he didn’t know the Sixers' sets, as he kept trying to figure out what to do. Yet, he hustled during a 5:12 stretch on the floor.
Johnson missed his first two shot attempts before scoring his first basket on a 3-pointer with 8:50 left in the second quarter to pull the Sixers within 10 points (36-26).
“It’s not like he’s going to know what we are running or anything like that, you know?” coach Doc Rivers said before the game. “But there are things like pick-and-roll sets. He can run our delay action. He can run all that. He’ll be fine for sure. It helps him over some other guys [because] he’s been in the league. So he kind of knows.”
One-day contracts
Prior to the game, the Sixers surprised 25 youths from the Methodist Services Group with a special game-day experience as part of Holiday Hoopla. They signed one-day contracts, received personalized Sixers jerseys , participated in basketball activities on the court, and received gifts from their wish list.
Next up
The Sixers will have two days off before facing the Washington Wizards on Sunday at the Capital One Center.
