The Atlanta Hawks were, admittedly, in unfamiliar territory; a young team trying to close out their more experienced counterparts who had been through all sorts of adversity. Perhaps not “facing elimination to a fifth-seed” kind of adversity, but they’re no strangers to devastation. That’s important to remember as this series gets set to conclude on Sunday, Father’s Day.
Losing this game 104-99 is a tough pill to swallow for several reasons.
Game 7 will be in Philadelphia. The Hawks are 2-1 in the City of Brotherly Love this postseason, but in a winner take all situation, being on the road is less than ideal with the way this series has gone with neither team being able to completely wrest control away from the other.
How did the Atlanta Hawks manage to lose such a winnable Game 6 at home?
Atlanta also led this game at halftime. It was a slim margin, just four points, but the losing margin was just five. What’s a nine-point swing to a team that has already overcome deficits of 18 and 26 points in this series? Of course, that’s the problem when relying on late-game heroics because other phases aren’t clicking.
So what were those other phases? The usually explosive Hawks averaged 113.7 points per game in the regular season, 106.5 points in the playoffs, and 108.7 per in this series.
But they were so off their game in Game 6 that they were held under 100 points for the first time since Game 2 against the Knicks. In fact, it was just the 12th time all season that the Hawks finished below the century mark.
So what were the catalysts behind the Hawks disappointing Game 6 loss?
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?
2. In Transition
The Hawks have been outscored in transition by an average of 13.8 points to 9.7 in their six games against the 76ers. They’ve won the transition points battle just once, and even then only had nine fastbreak points. On the other end, the 76ers have more games with 15 or more fastbreak points (four) than the Hawks have been in double digits (two).
It’s a bit of a reversal from their first-round matchup with the Knicks but after averaging just 8.4 fastbreak points in that series, their production on that front here in the Eastern Conference Semifinals actually represents an improvement.
Atlanta was near the bottom of the league in this category during the regular season too so maybe it should come as a surprise.
The point is the Hawks often find themselves getting beat in the hustle department. Not getting back on defense after misses is usually a surefire way to lose. The Hawks have been living on borrowed time but it may be running out.
Seth Curry and Tobias Harris tied for the team-lead with 24 points apiece while Joel Embiid had 22 points and 13 boards, but also eight turnovers. If Atlanta can’t beat Philadelphia when Embiid is off (he shot 37 percent from the floor and 25 percent from outside), it’s a problem.
This could also be viewed as part of a larger picture with the Hawks hustle, or their offense becoming stagnant, or the ill-advised shots from typically high-I.Q. shooters.
All of those are basic issues but they are beating this young team.
3. Triple Threat
These two teams finished the regular season 11th and 12th in three-point efficiency, with the 76ers coming in .1 point better. In the postseason they’ve gone their separate ways. Philadelphia has improved their deep-range prowess, currently ranking fourth in the postseason shooting 39.9 percent and third this round shooting a clean 42 percent.
Atlanta has canned 35.2 percent of their triples in the playoffs and 34.5 percent this round. On Friday they shot a paltry 32.3 percent from three while starting shooting guard Bogdanovic went 1-for-6 from outside.
He’s averaging 6.5 points on 30 percent shooting and is one for his last 10 threes.
Philly hit over 41 percent of their threes making this a good time to point out that, while De’Andre Hunter is lost for the season, Cameron Reddish just became available again. He hasn’t seen the floor in the two games since being fully cleared but that may need to change.
If the Hawks don’t find a way to slow Curry they won’t win Game 7. He’s shooting a ridiculous 59.6 percent from outside on 7.8 attempts per game and was 6-for-9 on Friday.
Tobias Harris is hitting 40 percent of his threes and even reserve guard Shake Milton is hitting over two threes a game at a 53.8 percent clip. That’s a significant improvement for both over their regular-season numbers.
The size and length advantage that Philadelphia has shown in their ability to get to their spots at will, but the screens freeing up Curry have been devastating too.
We knew that would be an issue coming into this series though; just as it was supposed to be in the Knicks series. But it’s been another area in which the Hawks actually have an advantage in that’s been holding them back.
4. Thrown Freely
The Hawks finished the regular season ranked fifth in the NBA, knocking down 81.2 percent of their free throws. If you’ve been paying attention you probably know where this is going. In the entire playoffs, they’re at 80.8 percent. Even in this round, they’re hitting 79.2 percent of their free throws.
The bottom fell out in Game 6 as Atlanta went 13-for-24 from the charity stripe or 54.2 percent.
Trae Young only hit 3-of-5 free throws after going 17-of-19 in Game 5. He was also the victim of a role reversal as the 76ers looked to send him to the line
To make matters worse, the Sixers only hit 69.6 percent of their free throws. This has multiple implications given Ben Simmons’ usual struggles at the free-throw line.
It was big news when Simmons went 4-14 from the free-throw line in Game 5 as the Hawks began sending him there intentionally during their rally back. Say what you may, it was an effective use of the strategy by Head Coach Nate McMillan.
Hacking Simmons wasn’t a big part of Game 6 as he ran into early foul trouble with three first-half fouls and wound up playing less than nine minutes in the entire first half.
The Hawks did try to use it in the fourth quarter but Simmons went 2-for-4 at the line, providing no real advantage to fouling him with the 76ers playing with the decent enough lead.
Atlanta missed their own free throws which kept them from taking advantage of Philly’s poor shooting at the line and weren’t even able to use their ace-in-the-hole strategy to try and repeat their theatrics of the last two games.
Clint Capela was also the victim of a role reversal as the 76ers looked to send him to the line, but more on him in a moment.
5. The Bigs
Collins picked a horrible time to have his second-worst game of the postseason as he had just seven points, though he did grab 10 boards and posterize Embiid something serious. Still, he’d averaged over 18 points over the last three games and at home. He shot just 25 percent from the floor and went 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.
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This was a letdown in a big spot for the second-best player on this roster and a player who will be looking for big money, even as a restricted free agent.
Collins also had an altercation with Joel Embiid where the latter came down awkwardly, knocking both big men down. They both took issue with the other and had to be separated by officials.
Capela had 14 points and 11 boards, but he continues to leave points on the floor by missing easy layups. His ability to be physical with Embiid is invaluable as the Hawks don’t have anyone else close to up for the task.
The Hawks big man hasn’t really been able to either but at least he has made Embiid feel him every time he’s guarding him down low.
The duo of Collins and Capela probably have the toughest assignments in this series as both of their counterparts’ games are so multi-faceted. But they’ll need to step up because they can’t keep letting the Philly combo be automatic.
Could more frequent injections of Onyeka Oknogwu help? The rookie has played just over eight minutes per game this series but every time he’s on the floor he makes an impact.
It’s win or go home in Game 7. McMillan can’t afford to be tight with his rotations.