The Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks matched up in the playoffs on Sunday for the first time since 1982 in a much-anticipated matchup for both teams. The Sixers are led by a talented star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons while the Hawks have a young star of their own in Trae Young.
The Sixers had a tough time coming up with an answer for Young as they ended up dropping Game 1 at home on Sunday 128-124 as Atlanta stole home-court advantage. The Sixers had a furious surge late, but that’s what it was. Just too late. Young had 35 points and 10 assists as he proved to be a tough cover for just about everybody the Sixers decided to throw at him.
Joel Embiid made his return and he led Philadelphia with 36 points and eight rebounds, Tobias Harris had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Seth Curry had 21, and Ben Simmons added 16 and 10 assists, but he shot just 3-for-10 from the foul line while Matisse Thybulle had 10 points off the bench.
Here are the observations following a tough loss to begin the series: