By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
Atlanta 124, Philadelphia 86 – Box Score
The Philadelphia 76ers entered play Wednesday night coming off arguably their best game of the season, a literal last-second defeat Saturday night at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. After giving the defending champions and one of the best teams of all time all they could handle, one might have expected the Sixers to build off that performance and come out sharp against the Atlanta Hawks. Instead, Philadelphia went in exactly the opposite direction, looking extremely flat in one of their worst losses of the year.
The problems for the Sixers began with ball security, an area the team had actually been doing well in recently. Not so against Atlanta, as the Sixers turned the ball over 9 times in the first quarter alone, on their way to 24 giveaways on the game. They had a simple hand-off fly off a hip out of bounds, an uncontested pass sail behind someone for a backcourt violation, and all manner of head-scratching miscues in all shapes and sizes. Jahlil Okafor was the worst offender with 5 turnovers (all in the first quarter); the big man was not exactly candid about his struggles after the game.
Reporter: What was the problem with the 5 first quarter turnovers you had. Okafor: "As a team we didn't play well."
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) February 4, 2016
Defensively, the Sixers might have been better off setting up traffic cones to slow down the Hawks, as Atlanta shot 52.2% from the field. On those infrequent occasions they did miss, they outworked the Sixers to grab 11 offensive rebounds (to just 6 o-boards for Philadelphia). It was truly a case of every member of Hawks roster having their way with the Sixers; 8 different Atlanta players scored between 10 and 13 points on the evening. The only guy who showed any fire defensively was Jerami Grant, who recorded 4 blocks, including this erasure of Dennis Schroeder.
Jerami Grant is a blocking machine. ☝🏿 pic.twitter.com/5M1Vq1RZk4
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 4, 2016
Nik Stauskas led the Sixers with 17 points on 5-7 shooting, and Nerlens Noel was a perfect 5-5 from the field to finish with 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Still, the night was not one for finding bright spots, but rather for blocking out of your memory entirely.
The Sixers are simply glad they won’t have to play the Hawks again this season. In the battle of former San Antonio assistants, Mike Budenholzer clearly has Brett Brown’s number. Atlanta has defeated Philadelphia by at least 21 points in all three meetings this season, while tallying their three highest-games of the season. Something about their egalitarian set-up offensively stymies a Sixers team that will eventually overpursue the play when faced with enough ball movement.
In the past week, fans have been treated to both the best and the worst from the Sixers. Hopefully, Friday night against the Wizards will shade much more toward the former.
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