PHILADELPHIA–In the grand scheme of things, the Philadelphia 76ers knocked off the Atlanta Hawks 125-114 and that’s all that matters. However, there was one poor defensive quarter that almost did them in.
The Sixers were cruising after a more than solid first quarter. They led by as many as 14 early in the second quarter, but then things fell apart.
Hawks wings Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter shook free for a lot of easy baskets. The two of them were getting into the paint, Atlanta was knocking down some tough triples and outscored Philadelphia 45-27 in the second and took a 68-62 lead at halftime.
Obviously, the Sixers ended up winning the game so it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but the defensive effort in the second quarter is not acceptable. Especially, against a Hawks team missing star guard Trae Young.
“I would say probably a ‘C’,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said of Philadelphia’s defensive effort. “We’re much better than that. This Hawks team was undermanned with not having Trae. So I think we kind of have this thing where we—I wouldn’t even say—every team in the NBA is good, but we don’t bring that same attentiveness as if we’re playing somebody else and it has nothing to say that—that’s within us, right? It’s not within anybody else and we just have to come locked in and focus every night.”
Outside of that second quarter, the Sixers held Atlanta to less than 25 points in each of the other three quarters. That is some terrific defense in this league, but Philadelphia knows it has to be better.
“It got real funky in the second quarter,” added Tyrese Maxey. “Sheesh! There were a couple of times when they just caught the ball and just rose up and like shot a 3. So he was kind of like upset with us because of that and they can’t just not dribble the ball and just rise up and shoot a 3. All the rest of the quarters, holding them under 25? That’s pretty elite defense in the NBA so if we can just get the funky quarter out of there, we’ll be good.”
The Sixers will have two days off before hosting the Washington Wizards on Monday.
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