Throughout the first quarter and a half, the Sixers really seemed to be hanging with the Hawks. Mainly because Atlanta decided to rest the majority of their starting lineup for the game. Because of the team’s schedule, playing four games in five nights, leading scorer Jeff Teague, forward Paul Millsap, and Demarre Carroll. Even though resting the starters most likely did play a role, it still seemed like we were watching the same Sixers we saw Friday and Saturday night, but their hopes to stay in the games diminished towards the end of the second quarter as the Hawks finished the second quarter on a 16-4 run. Atlanta was taking and making the three-point shot to the best of their abilities and in the final 1:13 of the half were able to extend their lead from 5 into 12. Former Sixer, Kyle Korver, was the anchor of the Hawks three-point shooting game as he notched 3 three-balls late in the half, giving them a commanding 49-37 advantage over the Sixers heading into halftime.
The Hawks stretched the lead into a 21 point game about mid-way through the third quarter, virtually eliminating any last drop of hope the Sixers were holding onto about possibly winning this game. Shelvin Mack of the Hawks recorded a double-double tonight in the victory, but the main man was veteran forward Al Horford. Horford recorded his first career triple-double, leading his team with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while also dishing out 10 assists. Surprising player, Kent Bazemore, scored 17 points and three-point specialist Kyle Korver did his job, finishing with 15 points on 5/8 shooting, with all buckets coming from beyond the arc. It was an impressive well-rounded game from the Hawks. It seemed to me that they were able to successfully generate offensive production from not only every position on the floor, but also from every player who stepped on the floor.
As for the Sixers, they were restrained to just 20 assists on the night and were forced to beat the Hawks in the one-on-one game. The end result didn’t turn out the way the Sixers and Head Coach Brett Brown would’ve wanted it too but the team did show some improvement from some guys. Michael Carter-Williams had one of his better nights as he led the team with 20 points on 8/13 shooting, while also hauling in 9 rebounds. Can’t really argue with a near double-double from the second year point guard. Tonight we saw the fan favorite Robert (Bob) Covington struggle. Bob was only 2/13 from the floor and only managed to record 7 points. Another struggling Sixer was big man Nerlens Noel. Noel only made 1 of his 4 shots tonight. For him to develop a low-post game in this league is going to take much more practice then four shots a night. He needs to get off more opportunities around the bucket if he expects to improve his game. K.J. McDaniels had 14 points on 5/9 shooting and second round rookie, Jerami Grant had himself a nice confidence building game as he managed to score 13 points for the Sixers in the losing effort.
This game went as planned for the most part with really no surprises. The Sixers have still been playing much better recently and cannot let this loss to a tremendous, playoff caliber, team get under their skin. Expect them to bounce back and play some close games in the near future, like we’ve seen recently before this game. The Hawks improve to a very impressive 30-8 record, while the Sixers fall to 7-30 on the season.
Next Up: Wednesday January 14th at Toronto (25-12), 7:30pm tip.
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