Atlanta Hawks: Rapid Reaction to a Sluggish Loss vs. Philadelphia 76ers

Rapid reactions to a 113-92 Atlanta Hawks loss vs. the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Atlanta Hawks showed potential on the defensive end but couldn’t keep up offensively in a 113-92 rout at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers.

The 1st quarter of this  was relatively low-scoring. Trae Young made some nice plays torching Markelle Fultz a couple of times. Kent Bazemore led the way with 8 points as he continues to look like the best player on this team. Both teams had real trouble holding onto the ball after a combined 12 turnovers as the Atlanta Hawks took a 5-point lead into the second.

The 2nd quarter didn’t go as swimmingly as the first. Early on the Atlanta defense and general lack of talent started to show a bit, Young got brickwalled after trying to layup on Joel Embiid then Atlanta gave up 11 points in the span of about 1 and a half minutes although the Hawks kept fighting.

Young looked great with 7 points and 4 assists through the half as Philly had real troubles taking the lid off the basket, shooting 33% in the first half.

The pace to start the 3rd was well below the average for both the 76ers and the Hawks. Taurean Prince just couldn’t find the basket as the Hawks started to fall apart on both sides. Simmons’ size started to bully our small-ball lineup with Omari Spellman at the 5. To be honest, the basketball was not great for either side as both teams forgot how to shoot for about a 3-minute span.

I’ll tell you who continues to look awesome is DeAndre’ Bembry. He is a quick, lengthy guard who just finds a way to be all over the court. If he can stay healthy, Atlanta might have struck some gold in the 2016 NBA Draft.

The game was decided in the 3rd but the 4th was higher-scoring and at least more enjoyable than whatever happened to end the 3rd. Prince never got going, shooting a putrid 1-11 while Trae Young and Baze continued to look good.

Young struggled from deep, shooting 1-6, but his passing throughout the game more than made up for it.

All in all, it was a less-than-desirable performance for the Hawks (tanking notwithstanding) but Philly is probably one of the 4 best teams in the East, so what can you expect. The talent gap is noticeable and getting destroyed in the 3rd just happens when we don’t have enough bodies to attack  Ben Simmons, Embiid and JJ Redick for a constant 48 minutes.