Atlanta Hawks: 5 reasons behind the big Game 6 letdown

1. Turnovers

Taking care of the ball is paramount in the playoffs because of the close nature of most games. Again, we’ve already seen wild swings in momentum and scores throughout this series. But no winner in this series has lost the turnover battle. It’s an age-old philosophy, but sometimes you just have to go back to basics.

The Hawks are sixth in turnovers this postseason but they’re fourth this round (there are only eight teams so they’re basically average) and they’ve had double-digit giveaways in five of six games this round.

They had another 12 on Friday (to the Philly’s 11) and, while the 76ers played with their usual defense, many of the Hawks turnovers were due to careless passes.

Trae Young had four which you expect when he has the ball the majority of the time. He also had a game-high 34 points (20 in the first half), 12 assists, three steals, and hit several big shots down the stretch. Young was so hot the lights in State Farm Arena went out.

The rub is all of his turnovers came in the second half, two in each half, with the Hawks trailing.

Bogdan Bogdanovic had three of his own. We’ll talk about why that is far too many but he wasn’t the only supporting cast member that was helping the wrong team.

John Collins had a pair and Game 5 hero, Lou Williams, did as well. Both players had costly giveaways in the fourth quarter. Williams, who had 13 fourth-quarter points last outing, ended his night on Friday with a goose egg to go along with his turnovers.

And what happens when you give the ball away?