The Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks took a turn on Wednesday. And it was a full 180.
The Hawks trailed up to 26 points in Game 5, and were still down 24 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. And somehow they came away with a 109-106 win to take a 3-2 lead in the series with Game 6 in Atlanta on Friday night.
The last 72 hours have been crazy in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Until Sunday, the teams were 46-1 in these playoffs (including play-in games) after leading by more than 15 points, with just one loss coming when the Dallas Mavericks had a lead of 19 points midway through the first quarter of Game 3 of their first-round series with the LA Clippers. This lead had started well before half-time.
But over the last three nights, the teams are 1-3 after leading by more than 15. All three losses came in the East and the Sixers are responsible for two of three.
Here are three reasons the Hawks outscored the Sixers, 48-21, in the final 14 minutes on Wednesday.
1. Brutal bench
You’ve probably heard this one before, but it bears repeating: The Sixers aren’t very good when Joel Embiid hits the bench.
When Embiid sat down with 1:27 to play in the third quarter, the Sixers were leading by 22. And when he came back with 10:03 to play in the fourth, the lead had fallen to 11. In that 3:24, Philly scored two runs on six offensive possessions and allowed 13 runs on seven defensive possessions.
To sum up, the Sixers were outscored by 27 points in the final at 1:56 p.m., by 16 at 10:32 with Embiid on the ground and by 11 at 3:24 with him on the ground.
Dwight Howard wasn’t entirely to blame for that part of the collapse, but the guy who led the league in fouls by 36 minutes put Young on the line (instead of moving his feet and challenging the drive) at the end of the third quarter, and was caught watching a shot as Onyeka Okongwu went unscathed for a tip-in on the Hawks’ first possession of the fourth.
In five games, the Sixers have been outscored by 32 points (20.6 per 100 possessions) in Embiid’s 58 minutes on the bench. And yes, that Is felt like a repeat of what happened two years ago.
2. (almost) no stops
The bench opened the ball, but this minus-16 in the last 10:32 of Embiid at the soil is also quite bad. The Sixers struggled on both ends of the pitch for the past 14 minutes, but the much bigger difference between the Sixers en route to an easy victory and the Sixers suffering from a brutal meltdown was in defense.
For 30 minutes, the Sixers’ defense was formidable, stifling main Atlanta actions, making sharp spins and forcing some tough shots. The Hawks have scored just 54 points from their first 66 possessions (0.82 percent) of the game.
And then they scored 55 points in their last 31 trips on the ground (1.77 for). In the fourth quarter, the Hawks scored (40 points) on 18 of their 22 possessions. That makes just four stops for Philly in 12 minutes.
Part of it was just do or miss. In the first half, the Hawks missed a few open and close shots. Halfway through the fourth quarter, John Collins conceded a 3 as the shot clock expired.
In part, the Hawks took advantage of the Sixers’ lesser defensemen. Lou Williams scored 13 points on a 6-8 shot in the fourth quarter.
One of those scores came when Seth Curry was sent in trouble after Williams placed a screen for Danilo Gallinari and it was slow to recover Williams, who reduced the deficit to eight with a long 3.
And after the Hawks took the lead, Gallinari took the smaller Curry from the post and emptied a turnaround jumper.
Some of them were Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Matisse Thybulle, unlike three guys who just made All-Defense teams. With just over four minutes to go, Simmons allowed Trae Young to drive next to him, Thybulle made no commitment to help (or stay home in the strongest corner), and Embiid n didn’t leave the ground as Young posed in an undisputed layup.
The Sixers were still ahead by four with 2:20 left, but Young then blew right off Thybulle for a short runner with Embiid again not leaving his feet to challenge. And the Hawks took the lead when Young asked Thybulle to bite on a dummy pump 28 feet from the basket.
Credit the Hawks. When the Sixers were a little slow, Atlanta’s performance in the fourth quarter was excellent.
3. Coming empty
After Embiid returned early in the fourth quarter, the Sixers scored 17 points on their next 11 possessions, still up from 10. And then they went scoreless for their next eight moves on the floor before getting a meaningless Curry jumper with 0.1 left in the game.
Two of those eight scoreless possessions were empty runs to the free throw line, one from Simmons and the other from Embiid. The Hack-a-Shaq on Simmons in particular was paying dividends for the Hawks. After the Hawks climbed three, Curry missed a good look at a pull-up 3 with 45 seconds left.
But three uglier properties stood out in this collapse. After a (double) time out, the Sixers performed a staggered screen for Tobias Harris. With Collins hit by the screen, Clint Capela stopping the ball and Young following Shake Milton as he cleared the strong side, Embiid apparently had a free kick to the basket. But he stopped dead and Harris’ pass passed.
On the Sixers’ next possession, Capela did a good job denying Embiid’s initial post-up on the left side of the floor. But he managed to catch up on the right wing with six seconds left on the shot clock. Capela gave him some room to shoot, but with Harris moving behind Embiid, Collins was able to prevent a comfortable jumper while still staying within Harris’ range. Embiid missed a difficult step back.
Two possessions later, with the Hawks on the rise and after another time out, the Sixers performed a Curry / Embiid pick-and-roll. With Capela bombarding the screen, the Sixers had a 4-on-3 situation that they couldn’t take advantage of.
Gallinari turned to Embiid on his hold in the painting and Simmons was alone under the basket. But Embiid sent it back to Harris, who attacked Collins’ fence. Gallinari turned again, then Embiid had two guys on him with Harris and Simmons under the basket. He handed the ball over to Harris, who was a bit slow to get it back up, allowing Collins to recover and block the shot.
Next: Game 6
For such a remarkable turnaround to happen, a lot has to go right (or wrong, depending on your perspective). The Sixers’ collapse began with continued bench issues. Williams then went ahead and found defenders he could lean on. Young took over and the Sixers’ top defensemen couldn’t stop him. And on the other end of the floor, Philly arrived empty at the worst possible time.
The Sixers have been the much better team for 34 minutes, and they can certainly be the best team for the next 96. They’ll have to win in Atlanta on Friday to force a Game 7, but they’ve already done it.
They also suffered two brutal collapses in the past three nights. And recovering from this kind of disappointment will not be easy.
