3 observations: Joel Embiid returns, but Sixers blown out by Hawks
The Philadelphia 76ers took a trip to the State Farm Arena to take on the Atlanta Hawks on Monday still dealing with being shorthanded. Despite having Joel Embiid and Mike Scott return, the Sixers still only had nine players including four rookies to rely on.
The result was predictable as they fell to the Hawks 112-94 on the road. Embiid had 24 points and 11 rebounds while playing 23 minutes in this one with the team having to play Tuesday in Philadelphia, Tyrese Maxey had 15 points and six rebounds, Isaiah Joe had 18 off the bench, and Dakota Mathias had 14 points as well.
With that said, here are the three observations in this one:
Lack of a ball-handler/depth
This is not the fault of the Sixers right now due to the circumstances they face right now, but the only ball-handler they could count on is Maxey. Whenever Maxey went to the bench, the Sixers had a tough time trying to bring the ball up the floor either with Danny Green or even Embiid in some instances. The Hawks applied a full-court press and the Sixers did not handle it well. They have to hope Ben Simmons can return Tuesday against the Miami Heat in order to help in this department. Again, this is not their fault, but the Sixers obviously could only count on nine players in this one. Atlanta knew this and they pushed the pace every chance they got. Trae Young, John Collins, and De’Andre Hunter were running up and down the floor and they ran the Sixers ragged. Hopefully, they can get some players to return sooner rather than later.
Embiid and double teams
In a game where the Sixers were still missing the likes of Seth Curry, Tobias Harris, and Shake Milton, it would make sense that the Hawks would send waves of aggressive double teams toward the big fella in this one. Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce was willing to let Dakota Mathias and Mike Scott fire away from deep and it makes sense as to why he struggled a bit in a department where he has made such progress to begin the season. Embiid seemed to be rushing his decision making and he was also trying to force shots over Clint Capela in trying to jump-start Philadelphia’s offense. He had 24 points and 10 rebounds at the half, but the Sixers still trailed by 15 as they did not have the energy to keep up with Atlanta. He did not score in his limited second-half minutes. It would have helped if the guys around him could have knocked down some shots.
Embiid and Howard minutes
When a team is down so many players, they have to get creative with the lineups. Coach Doc Rivers turned to Dwight Howard off his bench and he joined Embiid on the floor and the results were as bad as one would expect. The spacing was atrocious on offense and while the effort on defense was there, they had issues rebounding. The Hawks are a very good rebounding team so it’s just one of those nights where you chalk it up to being so shorthanded and move on to the next one.
