Atlanta Hawks 109, Philadelphia 76ers 106
Hawks lead series 3-2
The Philadelphia 76ers were ahead 38-24 at the end of the first quarter. They shot 16-of-20 (80.0 percent!!) over the first 12 minutes of the game, including 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) from 3-point range. Joel Embiid led the way with 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting, including a 3-pointer. Eight of the Sixers’ 16 made field goals were assisted. By contrast, the Hawks shot 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) from the field and 1-of-6 (16.7 percent) from 3 in the first period.
The Sixers would go on to lose this game.
With 3:19 remaining in the third quarter, the Philadelphia 76ers were ahead 83-58. By this juncture, they were shooting a healthy 29-of-54 (53.7 percent) from the field and 13-of-25 (52.0 percent) from 3. Atlanta, meanwhile, continued to struggle offensively, shooting 35.1 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from long distance. Philly was outdueling Atlanta 39-15 from beyond the arc.
The Sixers offense was still humming, as 18 of their 29 field goals (62.0 percent) were assisted. Embiid had dominated his way to 29 points on 10-of-14 (71.4 percent), 11 rebounds, and three blocks. Seth Curry backed him up with 25 points, seven triples on 10 attempts, and two steals.
The Sixers would go on to lose this game.
In the remaining 15:18 of the game, the Hawks completely flipped the tables, outscoring the 76ers 51-23. Trae Young led the way with 18 points and four assists over this span, going 5-of-9 from the field and 7-of-7 from the line.
However, Lou Williams was the true catalyst for this stretch. His 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting re-energized Atlanta in what was sure to be a lost game. The rest of the Others answered the call when needed as well: Danilo Gallinari, Onyeka Okongwu, Clint Capela, and Solomon Hill all combined to go 7-of-7 from the field.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia went 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) from the field the rest of the way, missing all five of their 3-point attempts. Embiid and Curry were the only two Sixers to make any field goals in the entire second half.
This collapse was crazy to watch in real-time. The Bucks had squandered their own sizable deficit the previous night, but this Sixers slide was even more insane! It took me awhile to process how things fell apart for Philadelphia.
In the end, it was another bout of a team moving away from what worked for them. The 76ers built their big lead with great ball movement and a balanced attack of 2- and 3-pointers. For the first 32:41 of the game, 46.3 percent of Philly’s shot attempts were 3-pointers.
The rest of the way, the Sixers moved on from that perfectly reasonable gameplan and chose to blitz the paint instead. Just 23.8 percent of Philadelphia’s shots down the stretch were 3-point attempts. The gag is, the Hawks also started protecting the paint more, completely neutralizing the 76ers’ interior attack. While all six of Philadelphia’s field goals during their collapse were 2-pointers, only one of them were from within the key.
One other thing I noticed throughout the game was that while the Hawks couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn for much of the game, their shot selection was actually fairly solid. A number of Atlanta’s shots were good attempts with bad arcs that died on the rim with a thud. Eventually, their shots did begin to fall, and the Sixers and their fans started getting very nervous.
This is the second-straight second half collapse for the 76ers, this one more embarrassing than the last. Yet I’m not going to completely write off the 76ers. This day as a whole reinforced to us that any twist or turn can happen in the NBA playoffs. However, it’s clear that they need to do some kind of soul-searching if they want to avoid elimination on Friday.
Los Angeles Clippers 119, Utah Jazz 111
Clippers lead series 3-2
One of the big stories from Wednesday’s Newspocalypse was word that Kawhi Leonard may have suffered an ACL injury in the previous game and would be out indefinitely. The Leonard/George duo has been so important to the Clippers’ success over the past two seasons. Losing half of that for an indeterminate amount of time could be devastating to LA’s title hopes.
On Wednesday night, however, the Clippers found a way to push through the adversity and take down the Utah Jazz in front of the raucous Salt Lake City crowd.
The key to victory was steady offense. Paul George did his part by continuing to play like a star. He finished with 37 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, and two blocks. He game was smooth, particularly when he drive to the basket. He went 9-of-13 inside the arc, and earned his way to 11 free throw attempts, making 10 of them.
While George was phenomenal, the important part of handling Kawhi’s absence is having some of the other role players increase their own production. On this night, Marcus Morris came through with 25 points, Reggie “Mr. June” Jackson continued his strong postseason with 22 points, and even sophomore wing Terance Mann added 13 points to the ledger.
As I said, the Clippers offense was steady throughout the game. Their 80 field goal attempts were evenly split between 2- and 3-pointers. In each quarter — first through fourth — they shot 60.9 percent, 47.4 percent, 55.0 percent, and 38.9 percent, respectively.
Utah’s downfall was ultimately their offensive volatility. Quarter-by-quarter, the Jazz shot 72.2 percent, 52.6 percent, 27.3 percent, 33.3 percent. 67.5 percent of their 80 shot attempts were 3’s, and they started the game going supernova from beyond. The well eventually dried up as they regressed to the mean. By period, they shot 66.7 percent, 46.7 percent, 0-of-10, and 21.4 percent from 3-point range.
Defensively, LA once again figured out how to draw Rudy Gobert to the perimeter. They proceeded to burn him multiple times off the dribble. Gobert fully deserved the DPOY this year, but his forte isn’t in clamping down perimeter players like Tony Allen back in the day. The Clippers were aware of this and made use of this fact on multiple occasions in the game.
In addition to the players needing to be more consistent offensively, head coach Quin Snyder has to figure out a way to keep his defensive anchor from constantly being hunted. This Clippers team is so adept at scoring points off the bounce, and they aren’t afraid to go at the less laterally-inclined players in a lineup.
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