PHILADELPHIA — The first Matisse Thybulle swat on Cam Reddish flew into the first row, where an unsuspecting fan in a blue 76ers cap turned gleeful when the ball landed in his grasp.
The second Thybulle swat on Reddish came a couple of minutes later, when Thybulle practically palmed the ball to keep it in play, eventually leading to a Shake Milton finish at the other end.
The Sixers flashed their ideal identity in a key early-season game Saturday night, using stingy defense and a ruthless transition game to blast the Atlanta Hawks, 122-94, at the Wells Fargo Center.
Philly held the Hawks to 27.9% shooting, racked up 34 fast-break points and led by as many as 33 points late in the second half. And Atlanta did not stage a furious rally on this night, which plagued the Sixers during their painful Eastern Conference series loss to the Hawks last season.
The Halloween Eve victory certainly does not make up for last season's heartbreak. But it was the Sixers’ best end-to-end performance of the young season against a quality opponent, and an impressive response two nights after star Joel Embiid criticized his team’s ability to guard their man against Detroit.
Tobias Harris led the Sixers with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists, while Tyrese Maxey added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and three assists, and Seth Curry contributed 15 points, including a transition corner 3-pointer that put Philly up, 84-62, with 3 minutes, 18 seconds to play in the third.
Strong start
Both teams shot less than 35% from the floor in the first quarter. But the Sixers built a 15-point lead — and held the Hawks to 15 points — because they shot 9 of 10 from the free-throw line (the Hawks did not attempt a foul shot until the final minute of the period), converted five Atlanta turnovers into nine points, and notched 12 fast-break points.
The Hawks’ shooting struggles continued through the opening minutes of the second quarter (14-of-42), until a mini spurt got the Sixers’ lead down to single digits when Bogdan Bogdanovic converted a transition layup with 5:46 to play in the half.
But the Sixers answered practically every Hawks bucket for the rest of the quarter, including when Harris hit a pull-up jumper to cap a 7-0 run in the final 1:15 that gave Philly a 60-46 lead at the break.
Locking down Young
The Sixers’ defense did a nice job limiting Hawks offensive star Trae Young, who went 5 of 16 from the floor and finished with 13 points and 10 assists. He hit just one of his signature deep pull-up three-pointers in the game.
Young missed four of his first five shots and finished the first half 3 of 9 from the floor, but did compile six assists.
It looked like Young might get going in the second quarter when he drew two fouls on Maxey in the lane during the Hawks’ surge to cut the lead to 48-39 with 3:27 left in the frame. But he missed both free throws on that second trip to the line, and did not get up another shot in the period.
Throughout the night, the Philly crowd serenaded Young with taunts. They initially booed every time he touched the ball. They cheered when he air-balled a 3-pointer. When he picked up a technical foul after expressing his displeasure for being called for a foul on Curry as he was shooting a 3-pointer, fans made fun of his hair.
Embiid’s uneven night
Embiid grimaced during the first quarter, clearly disgusted with himself that he could not convert an and-1 with the much smaller Young suddenly guarding him in the post.
That captured an uneven performance for Embiid, who finished with 19 points and five rebounds. He started 1 for 7 from the floor and finished 5 of 13, but went 8 of 9 from the foul line. He also first pushed the Sixers’ lead to 20 points when he finished inside to make the score 71-51 with 8:52 left in the third.
This outing came after Embiid’s best of the season, when he totaled 30 points and 18 rebounds against the Pistons. He came into Saturday averaging 21.4 points per game on 43.8% shooting and 9.4 rebounds through five games. The preseason MVP contender has been battling soreness since knocking knees in the season opener on Oct. 20, but has said that is not an excuse to his slower-than-expected start to the season.
