Sixers collapse in Game 5 loss as Hawks take 3-2 series lead
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Are the 76ers better than their recent predecessors? Or are they destined for another Eastern Conference semifinal exit?
It doesn’t look good for the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Sixers blew a 26-point lead en route to losing 109-106 to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 5 of the conference semifinals at the Wells Fargo Center. The Hawks now have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 is Friday night in Atlanta.
The State Farm Arena crowd will be just as electric, if not more so, than in Games 3 and 4. The Sixers will also have to defy history.
Game 5 winners have gone on to advance 82% of the time in playoff series that were tied 2-2.
Joel Embiid and Seth Curry were the only Sixers to score baskets in the second half Wednesday. Curry scored 25 of his 36 points in the second half on 9-for-13 shooting. Meanwhile, Embiid scored 13 of his 37 points on 3-for-9 shooting. However, the rest of the team shot a combined 0-for-11.
For the game, Tobias Harris had four points while making just 2 of 11 shots. Ben Simmons finished with eight points and nine rebounds, but he went 4-for-14 from the foul line.
Hawks guard Trae Young finished with 39 points.
Now, the Sixers must win Game 6 in Atlanta to force a winner-take-all Game 7 at home.
“We’ll be back here for Game 7,” coach Doc Rivers said. “I believe that.”
This collapse comes after the Sixers blew an 18-point lead en route to losing 103-100 in Game 4.
But it wasn’t supposed to be this hard.
Much has been made about the hiring of Rivers and a new coaching staff, bringing in the new role players, and employing Daryl Morey as president of basketball operations. Folks celebrated the Sixers’ finishing with the conference’s best record for the first time in 20 years. And the team can boast a league MVP runner-up in Embiid and a defensive player of the year runner-up in Simmons.
But they’re one loss way from dropping to 1-for-11 in the second round dating back to 1986. They beat the Raptors in seven games in 2001 en route to finishing as NBA Finals runners-up.
This loss isn’t on Embiid.
There’s a saying that great players never have two consecutive bad games. Well, that rang true for Embiid.
He was solid Wednesday night after struggling mightily Monday. This came after Embiid’s poor performance against the Hawks in Game 4. He had 17 points and 21 rebounds. However, he only made 4 of 20 shots, including missing all 12 of his second-half attempts.
Early on, it looked like the Sixers would win running away.
They made made their first six shots en route to shooting 16-for-20, including making 5 of 7 three-pointers, to lead 38-24 after one quarter.
That’s when it was obvious Embiid would be just fine, not missing a shot before being subbed with 1 minute left in the first quarter. The Sixers built a sizable lead with him leading the way.
But down 51-31, the Hawks went to a Hack-a-Ben as Young intentionally fouled Simmons with 4 minutes, 58 seconds left in the first half. The point guard made the first foul shot before missing the second.
Then on the next possession, Simmons missed both foul shots after being intentionally fouled by Kevin Huerter.
Huerter later committed a clear-path foul on Simmons near midcourt. As a result, the Sixers retained the ball after he went to the foul line for two shots.
Simmons missed both of his free throws before the Sixers inbounded the ball. As expected, Huerter immediately fouled him again, sending Simmons back to the line. He made the first foul shot before missing the second.
As a result, Philly led 56-32 with 3:42 to go before intermission after Simmons went 2-for-8 from the line during that stretch.
But the Sixers went on to take a commanding 62-40 lead, as Embiid added seven points in the second quarter. He went 1-for-3 from the field and made all five of his foul shots.
The Sixers led by 26 points with 8:31 left in the third quarter and still had a 87-67 lead when Simmons was subbed out with 40.7 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Hawks responded with a 9-0 run to pull within 11 points before Simmons and Embiid were subbed back into the game.
Then with the Sixers up 102-94, the Hawks went back to Hack-a-Ben.
This time, Simmons made both foul shots to give the Sixers a 10-point cushion with 4:23 left.
The Hawks went back to it after a Young layup. This time, Simmons missed both free throws.
Then Atlanta closed the gap to 104-98 after a Clint Capela dunk with 3:21 left. Rivers called a timeout to take Simmons out of the game to stop the Hack-A-Ben.
He came back in with 2:29 left. But at that point, they had lost all momentum. Young drew a foul on Matisse Thybulle while attempting a three-pointer with 1:26 left.
Young sank three foul shots to give the Hawks the lead for good at 105-104.
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