The Philadelphia 76ers are still dealing with the aftermath of blowing a 26-point lead at home in Wednesday’s Game 5 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. The result is the Sixers are now on the brink of elimination trailing the series 3-2.
This was the first time the Sixers had lost a game when leading by 25 or more points over the past 25 years and they must now figure out how to hold on and play with large leads like this one.
Afterward, TNT’s Charles Barkley was shocked by what he saw from the Sixers:
That was a complete choke job… you gave up 40 points in the last quarter. You were up 26. First of all, you should have been mad from the last game when you gave up the18-point lead. You come home, you play fantastic, you get up 26, but the problem is they brag about how good they are defensively, talking about ‘I should be the Defensive Player of the Year, I Defensive Player of the Year’, I’m like, yo man you gave up 40 at home in a playoff game. They just choked that away.
“This was a complete choke job.”
Chuck reacts to the Sixers blowing a 26-PT lead in Game 5. pic.twitter.com/kQX3pMaTqJ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 17, 2021
Barkley has a great point. All season long, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid believed that they both should have been the Defensive Player of the Year. Simmons especially was on that track, but they gave up 40 points at home in the fourth quarter to a young and inexperienced Hawks team.
The Sixers now have got to dig deep and get ready for a big battle on Friday on the road to force Game 7.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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