The Atlanta Hawks big men can reclaim the paint with Embiid injured
The Atlanta Hawks have lost their paint dominance in this series. Clint Capela has battled with the best center of this generation, Joel Embiid, and has not been able to defend the paint in his usual manner. This is totally understandable given that Embiid is playing like an MVP for the season when he wasn’t injured.
On top of that, the Hawks faced one of the best center’s of the last generation, Dwight Howard in the second unit. He has been given a role again and is performing it to perfection. This is almost a carbon copy of last season where he won the championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.
His second unit matchup is against Onyeka Okongwu, who is certainly bringing the energy in this matchup but is outmatched by Howard. When John Collins moves into the center position in some lineups, he is also being pushed around a little by Howard.
The Atlanta Hawks have a chance to reclaim the paint in Game 5
In most playoff series there are ebbs and flows and this one is no different. Game 1 was won by a dominant performance by the Hawks in the first half. They then held onto the lead in the second half which gave them the home-court advantage.
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Embiid was huge in this game and then the rest of the 76ers followed suit in Game 2 to allow the 76ers to record the victory. Then the 76ers came to State Farm Arena and again Embiid was dominant. This dominance has led to the rest of the team getting easy looks in the paint which is hurting the Hawks.
Then in Game 4, Embiid fell to the floor and was slow in getting up. He went back to the locker room and returned to the bench after a while. Up until this point he had been his usual handful for the Hawks defense. After coming back to the court, Embiid looked like he was struggling. His shooting was off and was certainly a step slower.
The Hawks took advantage of this, starting to reclaim the paint, and turned an 18 point deficit into a three-point victory. Now that there is only a single day of rest between games, Embiid has less time for his knee to recover. 76ers coach Doc Rivers has said that he is not fully fit but is likely to play.
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Now is the time for Capela, Okongwu, Collins, and Danilo Gallinari to exploit this and reclaim the paint. If they can do this then the 76ers will not get the easy points they enjoyed from the halfway mark of Game 1 to the halfway mark of Game 4. If they can do this then they are a really good shot at making the Eastern Conference Finals.