Atlanta Hawks vs. Philadelphia 76ers: Matchup to Watch
The Atlanta Hawks need a win to help re-establish their place in the middle of the pack of Eastern Conference playoff teams. Which matchup is the most crucial in this game?
The Hawks will be tasked will going to Philadelphia on Wednesday night for the latter end of a back-to-back.
They will travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers, who have played much more respectable basketball this season that they have in the past couple of years. And even though young star Joel Embiid has been sidelined with a knee injury, that has not stopped the young Sixers from competing.
They are doing so behind the play of Croatian sensation Dario Saric.
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In 14 games played in the month of March, Saric has averaged 19.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game. He has also thrown his hat into the upper echelon of Rookie-of-the-Year contenders.
Saric will be lined up against a man who was his teammate earlier in the season, Ersan Ilyasova.
Ilyasova started 40 games for the Sixers before being dealt to the Hawks at the trade deadline. He has come to Atlanta and given them some much-needed depth, especially after the injury to Paul Millsap.
With Ilyasova stepping into a starting role, his offensive presence remains similar but his defensive responsibilities increase. Millsap is a great defensive forward and Ilyasova now steps in to defend starting-level power forwards.
And he will, likely, have his hands full with the 22-yeaar-old Saric.
Saric brings a threatening skill set to the power forward position. He is an excellent ball-handler and is very smart with his decision making. The ability to slash to the basket and find an open man while doing so makes him very dangerous. Saric also has a good outside jumper, hitting 36 percent from three-point range in the month of March.
The 12th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Saric has always had a bit of point forward in him. Now he is not an elite passer but Saric is more than capable of dishing some nice assists and using his court vision to find open men.
Ilyasova has a tall task in front of him but while he is not a Millsap-level defender, he is not bad either. The veteran is a more-than-capable post defender and is great at taking charges when players attack the rim.
But Saric’s dynamic skills make him a wild-card. He is a very good athlete and has great size at 6-foot-10. The Sixers have been going as he has lately and Saric has shown the ability to carry them. But perhaps Ilyasova can wear Saric down on the glass and do some scoring of his own to derail the rookie.
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If Ilyasova can just prevent an explosion from Saric, then the Hawks have to like their chances in this game. But it would not be crazy for Saric to have his Rookie-of-the-Year-clinching performance against a team that hs struggled as badly as the Hawks have.