Atlanta Hawks studs and duds from encouraging win over the 76ers

The Atlanta Hawks got an encouraging and surprising (all things considered) 98-96 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday. If they hadn’t made such a deep run in last year’s postseason, we might view their 15-16 record and ranking 10th in the East in a very different light. As it stands, nights like that only make one question the events from the night before.

Philly had won by the same score in the previous meeting three weeks ago.

Coming off of a very disheartening 104-98 loss at home to the Orlando Magic, a game in which they were favored, the Hawks were underdogs on the road against Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Despite having lost their last seven games at home in State Farm Arena, the Hawks have managed to win six straight on the road.

The Christmas day game against the New York Knicks means getting this one is huge.

The Atlanta Hawks did themselves a huge favor with their win over Philly

Cam Reddish led the Hawks with 18 points on 53.8 percent shooting with three assists, one rebound, one steal, and two turnovers. He also went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe but was 0-for-3 from beyond the arc. He didn’t have his usual defense either, with Seth Curry scoring seven of his 12 points on the third-year wing.

He, along with Delon Wright (five points, six assists, five rebounds), had to leave the game with injuries of unknown severity. Reddish attempted to come back on the floor twice after his injury but was unable to gut it out.

Nate McMillian said he thought he was dealing more with cramping than an actual injury.

Skylar Mays bounced back tremendously with a 14-point, 11-rebound effort that saw him shoot 54.5 percent and tally three assists and a steal as well as hold Tyrese Maxey in check. The 76ers young scorer had just two points on 1-of-4 shooting when Mays was on him.

Bogdan Bogdanovic put the finishing touches on the night, going 4-of-7 from the floor for 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.