PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers got back at it on Thursday as they played host to the Atlanta Hawks, looking to get back in the win column. The Sixers had lost two in a row going into the All-Star break, and were hoping to pick up a win over the pesky Hawks and move back in the right direction.
The Sixers trailed by as many as 14, and rallied to get back into this one, but the Hawks handed them a 117-107 loss. Philadelphia has now lost three in a row and has lost seven of its last eight in games Joel Embiid does not play.
Tyrese Maxey had 28 points for Philadelphia while VJ Edgecombe had 20 and nine rebounds, Andre Drummond had 10 and 14 rebounds, and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 17 and four rebounds. Hopping off the bench, Quentin Grimes had 14 while Adem Bona had nine points, seven rebounds, and four blocks.
Here are the three biggest takeaways following Philadelphia’s loss to the Hawks:
Maxey’s tough shooting night
Overall, Maxey shot 8-for-23 and 4-for-11 from deep, but he shot 4-for-13 in the first half, and then 0-for-3 in the fourth quarter. It was just an overall tough night for Maxey as the Hawks got physical with him to throw him off and hold him to an off night. He still was able to 28 points, but it felt like every time he drove into the paint, Maxey was unable to find anything in an effort to get the offense rolling for Philadelphia.
“Well, he didn’t have a ton of space,” coach Nick Nurse said. “He seemed everything we do, they ended up with two on him, right? Even a couple times he rejected and changed directions, they still found a way to get two guys on so he didn’t have a ton of space. Most of his stuff was crashing into somebody driving the lane and not a ton of clean stuff. I mean, he had some open 3s, but everything inside the 3 was pretty contested for him.”
Transition defense issues arise again
The Sixers have been working on trying to get better in this area, but it bit them in the behind on Thursday. The Hawks got out and ran every chance they got and scored 25 fast break points. Atlanta had 21 fast break points in the first half on its way to a 10-point lead and it was able to find some rhythm on the offensive end. The Sixers were better after halftime as they held Atlanta to just four fast break points, but overall, the points in transition are still a thing the Sixers have to figure out.
“We spent a lot of time on that the last couple days,” Nurse added. “I think a lot of it happens when Tyreese drives to the basket, our guys got to be much more aware of getting out of the corners and getting back, right? And we showed a few clips of that at halftime that we weren’t doing it right. They did a good job, I think, of making us pay for some of those physical drives, a missed shot, and they were out the other way on us. Especially, in the first half.”
Grimes finds a rhythm
It has been a bit of a struggle for Grimes as of late. The 6-year veteran out of Houston was able to find it on Thursday as he scored 14 points off the bench on 5-for-9 shooting and was 2-for-4 from deep. He did pick up five fouls, which slowed him down some, but Grimes being able to find a rhythm on the offensive end is such a big help for this group going forward and the Sixers will view this as the one positive from this loss.
“Being aggressive,” Grimes said of his night. “I feel like when I’m in attack mode, it helps me, it helps the team as well. So, just going out there, looking for my shot, staying aggressive, and playing like that for the whole game.”
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following tough home loss to Hawks
