The Philadelphia 76ers return home following a 139-132 overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks looking to get back in the win column. The effort by Philadelphia was much better than the previous two games, but a loss is a loss, and the Sixers have now lost three in a row for the first time this season.
Tyrese Maxey, who had 35 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals before fouling out, was terrific in the effort. With the Sixers missing Joel Embiid for a second straight game due to left knee swelling, they needed Maxey to be great and he certainly was.
Maxey gave the Sixers a 125-121 lead late in regulation before the Hawks rallied to force the extra session. He gave Philadelphia a 132-129 lead in overtime before fouling out. Nonetheless, it ended up in a loss.
“We just try to win,” Maxey told reporters of what comes next. “The last two games before this one, I don’t think we played hard. We didn’t play as hard as we could have and we kind of just laid down and two beatable teams just come into our house and take a game from us.”
The Sixers certainly did give a terrific effort on Wednesday. Despite the deck being stacked against them, they were able to put themselves in a position to win the game before just coming up short.
Maxey and the Sixers can take some solace in that.
“Tonight, I feel like guys fought,” Maxey added. “From one through however many guys we have here, we fought on defense. We fought on offense. We was extremely aggressive. Like I said, Mo Bamba was huge tonight. At the beginning of overtime, I just remember him blocking like two or three shots and changing two shots.”
At this point, the Sixers need to stick together. It’s a three-game skid, yes, but this happens over the course of an 82-game season. They now return home and must handle business against the Sacramento Kings regardless of whether Embiid can return.
“So I think we gotta go in there and keep being ourselves and keep being aggressive,” Maxey finished. “Tobias (Harris) was really good tonight. So we’ll try to get us a dub on Friday.”
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