High-Scoring Sixers Fly Past Hawks

 

 

 

By the end of the first quarter against the Hawks, the Sixers already had a nice double-digit lead. While Embiid was rolling early, Furk had a few notable highlight-reel plays to close out the quarter, reversing off the glass and pulling a fake pass for another layup.

A finger roll with under a minute left in the first quarter gave Furk six points in the quarter alone. If he can tie his clutch three point shooting with improved finishing and drives to the hoop, that would be a monument and useful transformation for the Turkish phenom.

Unfortunately, he would later leave with a knee injury with the Sixers up 38-26 early in the second quarter.

Tobias Harris had a confident performance and made a strong and-one while splitting two Hawks defenders to put the Sixers up 41-28 after a free throw. He later made a decisive pull-up three-pointer to give him 11 points and a 44-28 lead to Philly with nine minutes left in the 2nd quarter.

Harris has been productive lately and is finally starting to play like his size. He’s now scored 21 points or more in three of his last four games.

Tyrese Maxey made some spectacular shots of his own, and before you knew it the 76ers were up 59-42 courtesy of a soft, perfectly-timed Maxey floater. Maxey’s effort, speed, and awareness continues to impress and he leads the NBA in miles run per game with 2.91 (per NBC Sports).

Embiid finished the second half with a dominating drive, 18 points, and the 76ers finished with their most points in a first half all season with an imposing double-digit lead on Atlanta. The team shot a crisp 58% from the field in the first half.

for your viewing pleasure.

📹 Game Highlights vs. Hawks | 11.12.22

presented by @cryptocom pic.twitter.com/0WSPstGmi6

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 13, 2022

Although the Sixers built on their lead thanks to some phenomenal mind reading and collaboration between Maxey and Embiid, halfway through the third quarter Maxey found himself riding the bench with four fouls even though the Sixers were up 82-58.

With three minutes left in the third quarter, Embiid had a 30 burger and the Sixers were up 91-73.

Philadelphia started giving up a little defensively and unfortunately saw their once 27-point lead shrink to just 10 when the score was 92-82, but of course Embiid came in like the caped superhero he is and got the momentum back with a nice and one, getting the lead to 95-82.

Niang took a key foul of his own later on a four-point play while hitting a high-arcing three, etching the 76ers to just one point shy of 100 with the third quarter all but over, while the Hawks had yet to cross the 90 point mark.

Embiid and Maxey were both on fire throughout the contest and drained well over half their shots from the field.

Embiid had 42/10/6 in the win while putting up only 25 shots. Maxey added 26/9 in the midst of shooting 10-18 from the field.

The Sixers efficient three-point shooting has been a critical factor in their victories in this short season and they are currently ranked seventh in the NBA in three-point percentage in addition to:

• 10th in free throws made per game
• 6th in steals per game
• 7th in free throw %
• Tied for 12th in +/-

Maxey also spread the ball around masterfully on his way to a season-high nine assists.

Maxey’s third triple of the night gave the 76ers a 105-89 lead with eight minutes remaining in the game. So far this season, Maxey leads all 76ers in total points.

The 76ers lead shrunk all the way down to 107-98, but Tobias Harris bullied his way into the lane to force a close layup and bring the lead back into double-digits, but that double-digit lead later slipped away once more.

The Hawks played hard and forced the Sixers to sweat it out, as they only regained a double-digit lead after Thybulle hit an open three to make the score 118-107.

Tisse three! pic.twitter.com/pl3jTzD5tA

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 13, 2022

Embiid put the absolute exclamation point on the night with a three from far outside the arc, easily securing the win as he raised his hands in a victorious gesture to the raucous home crowd.

Hopefully tonight, the Sixers can scrape past the Utah Jazz and get their winning percentage to .500.