PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers were unable to flip on the second-round switch.
So, they find themselves trailing the Atlanta Hawks, 1-0, in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Hawks built a commanding 26-point, first-half cushion and held on for a 128-124 victory at the Wells Fargo Center.
“I thought they hit us in the mouth to start the game,” coach Doc Rivers said. “I thought they were the more physical team. they were the more aggressive team. They played harder early, and they took care of the ball early.
“We didn’t. You have have nine turnovers at the start of the third quarter and expect to be up.”
The Sixers’ first-quarter blunders led to them committing 19 turners on the afternoon.
But that was just one of many problems.
The Sixers will definitely look to improve before the squads square off in Game 2 Tuesday night at the Center.
They can start with doing a better job of defending Trae Young. The Sixers must also work on improving their perimeter defense, cutting down turnovers, and having a higher sense of urgency.
Young, the Hawks point guard, finished with 35 points and 10 assists, with 25 of those points coming before intermission. Atlanta made 20 of 47 three-pointers. Twelves of Sixers’ turnovers came in the first half. Yet, they battled back and made it one-possession game late.
Joel Embiid, who was a game-time decision, finished with 39 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks. The 76ers’ four-time All-Star missed Wednesday’s first-round closeout against the Washington Wizards with a small meniscus tear in his right knee.
Tobias Harris added 20 points and 10 rebounds. Seth Curry had 21 points. Ben Simmons had 17 points and 10 assists, but went 3-for-10 from the foul line.
The Sixers pulled within 118-115 with 1 minute, 1 second left on Embiid’s layup. They pulled within three again (121-118) after Harris stole a Young pass near midcourt and scored on a layup with 28.7 seconds left.
However, Embiid was called for a clear-path foul that put John Collins on the foul line with 23.2 seconds left. After Collins made the foul shots, the Hawks regained possession. Collins caught a alley-oop from Young while being foul by Embiid. He made the foul shot to complete the three-point play and give the Hawks a 126-118 lead with 16.5 left.
But the Sixers closed the cap to 126-124 on Simmons’ layup with 10.5 seconds left.
The Sixers came into game with a lot of excitment.
A lot of that had to do with Embiid being cleared to play. The crowd was also hyped because Paul Michael Levesque, better known by his wrestling name as Triple H, was the bell ringer, doing so with a sledgehammer. Embiid is a big fan of the professional wrestling group DX, to which Triple H belongs. The MVP finalist even thrusts his hips and uses Triple H’s trademark X motion with his hand after big plays.
So it was only fitting to have him ring the bell. And the crowd went crazy when Embiid escorted him out on the court what looked like a Hollywood production.
The Sixers and Embiid came out amped up. The crowd errupted with a huge applause as Embiid drained a three-pointer to put the Sixers up 11-8.
Philly shot the bell well in the first quarter, making 66.7%. However, they were unable to stop the Hawks, especially Joe, and committed nine turnovers in the quarter. The Hawks made 72.7% of their shots in the quarter.
However, they broke the game open with a 17-0 run that started with 42.9 seconds left in the opening quarter and was capped on Bogdan Bogdanovic’s threer-pointer 9 minutes, 22 seconds left in the half. The basket made it a 53-27 game.
The Hawks went on to take a 74-54 lead at the break. Young’s 25 first-quarter points came while making 4 of 7 three-pointers with Danny Green the primary defender. Atlanta made 13 of 23 three-pointers at the half. But the point guard got things started with 12 of his points coming in the first quarter.
The Sixers did a better job on Young in the third quarter. The third-year player missed five of his six shots while scoring six points. Ben Simmons guarded Young at the first in the quarter. Then the Sixers went back to Green and had Matisse Thybulle on him.
In the process, Embiid scored 11 of his points as the Sixers ended the quarter down 16 (99-83).
