The Philadelphia 76ers had to face the Atlanta Hawks down nine players. They have players in quarantine, they have players injured, and they have another player out due to family issues. All of that contributes to the team being down eight players and having to face a team at full strength.
The Hawks took full advantage of that as they ran the Sixers up and down the floor and they had 21 fast break points compared to just two for Philadelphia. They also had 23 second-chance points while the Sixers could only muster up eight on their end.
“We gotta get back, you got to get back,” said rookie Tyrese Maxey who had 15 points and six rebounds. “We’re stabbing at the ball. A couple of times, I tried to get a steal in transition or jump to try to make the pass tough, but you got to get back and build walls and just get in our half-court defense.”
All of that can be attributed to being fatigued and dealing with being shorthanded.
“I thought they really tried to play fast,” said Rivers on the Hawks. “They also knew they had an amazing size advantage, especially at the 1, 2, 3 spots. Not a lot you could do with it. I told our guys to keep playing.”
For Maxey, this is his second straight game where he had to defend an elite point guard. It was Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets on Saturday and then Trae Young on Monday. It was another learning experience for him as he had to go through a myriad of screens just to try and bother Young.
“That’s the job,” Maxey explained. “Clint Capela, John Collins, they set wonderful screens and I fought over most of them for the most part, but it’s relentless. You gotta be relentless with him, he’s good at drawing fouls, he’s good at what he does, and he makes it hard.”
The Sixers return home to face the Miami Heat on Tuesday hoping to get a little healthier.
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