Game Thread: Hawks at Sixers, 01/11/18

[jayu70]

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[Spud2nique]

Shoutout to Jamaal for deleting his game thread and allowing bird to use hers. That’s big of you bro, and it didn’t go unnoticed! Keep being a better you in 2019.

[Jamaaliver]

^We're all on the same team, baby!

There was a time not too long ago when no one bothered to create threads here. We've come a long way.

76ers focus on defense as Hawks visit

The Philadelphia 76ers will look to regroup against the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.

In their last game, the Sixers surprisingly lost 123-106 at Washington, even though it was their ninth straight loss on the road against the Wizards, dating to 2013.

The Hawks (12-29) blew an early 19-point lead and fell 116-100 at the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.

Atlanta did have some bright spots as John Collins scored 30 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Rookie Trae Young scored 17 points, and Jeremy Lin added 16.

Collins was especially impressive, going 12 of 21 from the field. It was the 11th time this season that Collins had at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in a game.

"I thought he was great to start the game," Pierce said.

"He goes right to the paint and plays a little bully-ball and it's good to see because that's just part of his growth."

CBS Sports

[Spud2nique]

Uh oh...be very afraid of the lw3 game thread today...he knows Philly well...

DUN DUN DUN DUN (Dragnet)...

[lethalweapon3]

Woah... We’re halfway there!

Time sure flies when you’re having fun. After drag racing with Toronto, and riding the Coney Island coaster with Brooklyn, the Hawks hope tonight’s three-game road-trip finale in Philadelphia is more than just a merry-go-round with the 76ers (7:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 in ATL, NBC Sports Philadelphia).

When last these teams met here at Wells Fargo Center, a 113-92 Sixers win on October 29, Trae Young’s fellow starters included Kent Bazemore and Taurean Prince, Vince Carter and Alex Len. Similar to Wednesday’s Nets game, the Hawks started off well (up 8 mid-first quarter), began teetering in the second quarter (tied by halftime), and fell apart quickly in the second half (31-13 PHI advantage in the 3rd quarter).

It’s not likely any of those four colleagues of Young will be on the floor at tipoff this time around. On the other hand, the Sixers’ starting lineup fielded Markelle Fultz, Robert Covington and Dario Saric. They’ve certainly reconstituted since then, with Fultz (thoracic outlet syndrome) on the shelf and rehabbing for an indeterminate period, and Saric and Covington flipped to Minnesota in mid-November for Mister Sunshine, Jimmy Butler.

On paper, the Butler addition was certain to give Philly an extra booster rocket in the race to win the Leastern Conference, forming a Big Three alliance alongside the impregnable Joel Embiid (career-highs of 26.9 PPG, 13.5 RPG, 3.5 APG, 80.6 FT%) and mid-range shawty Ben Simmons (16.4 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 8.0 APG). The blockbuster move has worked, kinda-sorta.

After all, the Sixers (27-15) have yet to lose consecutive games when Butler (18.3 PPG, 47.0 2FG%, 38.6 3FG%, 1.9 SPG w/ PHI) has played. But you’d think that coach Brett Brown’s club, now with three projected All-Stars, would check in at something better than 13-8 when they’ve started together.

On Tuesday, they washed out the Wizards, 132-115 here at The Stagecoach. They took a trip down I-95, faced these same Wizards in D.C., and lost, 123-106. Even at that tiny sample size, that’s too much up-and-down for a purported Finals contender. It would be easy to point at the absence of JJ Redick (questionable, back tightness) for the loss on Wednesday, except he sat out the win on Tuesday, too. 12th in O-Rating, 12th in D-Rating are… fine. But those are not screaming signals of a team that wants to escape the second-round, either.

If Coach Brown is running short of ideas, I’m certain Butler will be willing to offer up his piece of mind. You all have that friend who gets all polite and cordial around you, offering up kind thoughts, and it’s the tip that you KNOW you did something wrong? That’s Jimmy Buckets, in a nutshell. The reported kerfuffles with his new coach, in the aftermath of the scorched-earth he left behind, only serve to rile up the hot-take-osphere, not the locker room.

Butler would fit right at home at any Hater’s Ball, which for the time being makes daily commuting in Philly perfect. Embiid and Simmons (21 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists vs. ATL on Oct. 29) appear to have thicker skins than his former young star colleagues in the North Star State, while Brown is as glib as they come. Together, they’ll be sure to allow fur to fly just enough to get a real roll going soon, without wearing each other out in The Process. But Brown will have to sort out the proper supporting cast to make it work at playoff time.

The latest combo Brown paired with Philly’s Big Three created a 6-foot-7-high-and-rising lineup, un-Korking Furkan (16 points, 4-for-8 3FGs @ WAS on Wednesday) to help the Sixers (4-for-19 3FGs everyone else @ WAS; 14-for-47 3FGs vs. ATL on Oct. 29) with spacing without Redick available, and going with Wilson Chandler, instead of our old friend Mike Muscala, for goodness knows what reason.

It borders on absurdity to suggest that the NBA’s sloppiest team, the Hawks (18.7 TOs per-48, 2.1 worse than 29th-place DAL), might be able to win a turnover battle tonight, but I’m saying there’s a chance.

On the good side for Philadelphia, their turnover percentages (14.7 TO%, prev. 15.6%) have gone down since replacing Covington and Saric with another caretaker in Butler. But Sixer mates haven’t helped Butler build up the advantage on the other end (13.5 opponent TO%).

Perhaps, unlike with Covington around, the non-Big Three contributors for the Sixers are more apt to sit back, or to get back (17.7 opponent points per-36 off TOs, 6th-most in NBA), than attack defensively. That made things easy for the Wizards’ Bradley Beal on Wednesday (6-for-11 3FGs, 34 points vs. PHI on just two FTAs). 20 of Beal’s points came off quality feeds from backcourt mate Tomas Satoransky (8 of his 11 assists to Beal).

If the 76ers over-rely on Butler to patrol the perimeter, and on Embiid to dominate the defensive boards, weakside shooters (notably, Carter, shooting 37.3 3FG% on a team-high 8.6 attempts per-36, and Kevin Huerter) and pop-out bigs for the Hawks (12-29) will find ample catch-and-shoot opportunities to keep the visitors in the ballgame.

That development tonight could be a boon for Young (7 assists, 6 turnovers @ BRK), Jeremy Lin (last 4 games: 15.8 PPG, 5.8 APG) and an Atlanta team whose 17 assists tied a season-low in Brooklyn on Wednesday night. To keep the turnover margin reasonably close or even favorable, coach Lloyd Pierce’s ballhandlers must avoid cross-court passes and lazy dribbling in ball-hawk Butler’s vicinity.

Philadelphia versus Boston is a presumptive favorite scenario for the Conference Finals, not a first-round 4-5 matchup, as would be the case if the midseason standings hold. With a tougher slate of contests on the docket arriving soon, the Sixers cannot afford to pile up bad losses against either Atlanta or the Knicks this weekend.

As for our Hawks, at the midway point with the NBA Lottery mere months away? We’re doing just fine, living on a prayer. We'll make it, I swear!

Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3

[DirtybirdGA]

Righ jammal, I think it was just you and me doing those about 3 seasons ago..I didn't want to be up against it round 6:30-7, and glad others are doing it, I wasn't doing social media then to copy matchups...lol

[Jamaaliver]

Right. jammal, I think it was just you and me doing those about 3 seasons ago..I didn't want to be up against it round 6:30-7, and glad others are doing it, I wasn't doing social media then to copy matchups...lol

I recall.


Those were dark times, man.

And, it was a thankless job back then.

[ducler]

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[lethalweapon3]

JJ and Jo-Jo are so-so, so far.

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~lw3

[Spud2nique]

Great game preview lw3 as always! Tough task tonight playing in Philly for us. I don’t expect a win but I’d like to share the ball, play defense, compete and grow overall as a unit as we have been for the last few weeks.

Loved the part about Jimmy being able to attend any haters ball..lol..for sure true and imo Philly has better chemistry with Cov and Dario. Be careful of overloading a team with “stars” it could backfire. Playoffs are a different animal though so I won’t be quick to judge just yet. Also loved the unkorking of one Furkan Korkmaz...brilliant. I swear at times when I stub a toe or am stuck in traffic I often yell Furkan Korkmaz or Ivaca Zubac and it makes me feel at ease.

The last line of your game preview had me singing the Laverne and Shirley theme song RIP.

I think we drop this one on the road to Philly but we do often play well against undisciplined teams.

Sixers -10.5 o/u 232

Sixers 122
Hawks 111

More Collins and Trae highlights peppered in by “Wow Huerter is really fundamental and crafty” type plays.

Go Hawks!!!

[Vae Victus]

Simmons looking unstoppable, but missing Embiid definitely hurts, as when Simmons sits its just Butler who can create his own shot.

ATL needs to stop being so sloppy with the ball. Transition buckets is gonna be key for PHI since they dont have Embiid to pound it downlow.

This game is very winnable as long as ATL doesnt play wild and just do their best to slow down SImmons and Butler.

[Vae Victus]

Who needs Embiid, "Muscle" Mike just gonna keep raining dem 3s...

[Spud2nique]

Good play so far from our bigs in Collins and Dedmon. Huerter some nice thread as well. Tj MConnell has become better and more annoying st the same time. Lol. Lin getting beat up.

Go Hawks!

[King Ken]

Cleaning dishes and the room and watching the game. This team really don't suck. We maybe below average but we play hard and we got some talent and we are well coached.

I think we are a tier higher than the bottom 4 but not exactly average like Washington, Det, Charlotte and Orlando. So we are a tier below them but above the scrubs.

[King Ken]

Trae is automatic when wide open. He is rarely wide open is the issue

[hawkmanreturns]

Huerter is going to be much more than what many projected him to be in the draft. This kid could easily be a pre-injury Hayward with better defense as early as next season. He just needs to get stronger.

[Spud2nique]

WEDGIEEEEEEEE!!!

[King Ken]

Trae played good but the last two possessions are what we will call a learning experience.

[hawkmanreturns]

Why didn't Trae just blow by Simmons? No need to force a pass that wasn't there.

[hawkmanreturns]

Huerter's a stud. Excellent choice at #19 by Schlenk. It's like we got two lottery picks in the 2018 Draft.