The Philadelphia 76ers put up a much better effort on Wednesday in a 139-132 overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks than they did in their previous two losses. The Sixers, despite missing Joel Embiid and Robert Covington, were able to give themselves a chance against a tough Hawks team.
Tyrese Maxey was fantastic as he had 35 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals. He gave Philadelphia a 4-point lead late in regulation before the Hawks rallied to force overtime. Once he fouled out, Atlanta ended the game on a 10-0 run when trailing by three to win the game.
“I mean, we did fight hard,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters after the loss. “We had ourselves in position to win, needed to execute a little better defensively down the stretch. We gave up back-to-back back cuts. So one, you can probably live with, but another one after that when it comes at you is tough.”
Maxey made a 3 to put Philadelphia up by three in the extra session, but the Sixers had a tough time getting stops and they weren’t able to get any scores on the other end.
“We fought really hard,” Nurse added. “We had some real opportunities there. We had a three-point lead there in overtime. 1:40 to go and really good execution, a wide-open 3 probably maybe puts the game away as well, and then we just had to kind of watch a parade to the free throw line in the last minute and a half.”
As far as Maxey is concerned, he had a drive at the end of regulation on which he appeared to be fouled, but the officials ruled it out of bounds off Maxey. On the replay, it looked as if Trae Young smacked him on the wrist which forced the turnover.
Then, in overtime, Maxey was called for his sixth foul when Young drove into him at the basket. It was a very questionable call. Once he had to leave the game, the Sixers were unable to get anything going on offense.
“Again, just like I said the ball didn’t bounce our way,” Nurse finished. “I didn’t think he — possibly got fouled on that one. His sixth foul was, I just watched it in the locker room, that was pretty hard to take for a guy who was really fun to watch tonight.”
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