Three Normal Playoff Things: Sixers vs. Hawks Game Five
Three Normal Playoff Things: Sixers vs. Hawks Game Five
Three normal things.
Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He has been legally banned from covering the team in person, and when that ban was set to be lifted, Covid-19 struck. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
Welcome back to Three Normal (Playoff) Things! Let’s go.
#1: No worries, Joel Embiid is back
If anyone was worried after Game 4 that MVP runner-up Joel Embiid had lost his dominance thanks to fatigue and injury, I have good news: Embiid is once again a monstrous player, who dominated the Atlanta Hawks on both ends of the floor.
Embiid’s scoring, efficient as always, came everywhere: he got to the line, he scored inside, he hit jumpers and sprinkled in some work from beyond the arc.
Defensively, Embiid was his usual commanding self, containing Trae Young out of the pick-and-roll and protecting the rim at a high level.
There are only so many words you can use to describe Embiid, so I’ll keep this short. But one more tidbit: Embiid’s rebounding in this series has been phenomenal. It’s an area where he’s had ebbs and flows throughout his career, but Joel has been excellent on the glass all series long.
#2: Finally, the Sixers attack Trae Young
One of the most common gameplan shifts when the NBA playoffs begin is to relentlessly attack the opposing team’s weakest link on the defensive end. The Sixers frustratingly did not go at Trae Young, one of the league’s least capable defensive players, for much of the series.
Tonight, however, the Sixers set the tone early by going right at him. Doing so immediately yielded results, as the offense exploded early.
Another interesting angle here: of course, the Sixers miss Danny Green, who remains out with a calf strain. But with his injury and Furkan Korkmaz entering the starting lineup, the Hawks have nowhere to “hide” Trae Young on defense. Young has to chase Korkmaz around screens, and he’s giving more than half a foot to Korkmaz. Look for the Sixers to continue trying to establish Furkan’s presence offensively early on.
#3: Sixers blow it again, go down 3-2
I really did not think I was going to have to write this. But here we are -- the Sixers yet again blew a massive lead, and the pesky Atlanta Hawks came all the way back to win the game.
There’s not much to say at this point. The Sixers executed poorly in just about every respect during an embarrassing fourth quarter. Everything was awful and everyone deserves blame. Truly a pathetic showing.
The Sixers now head to Atlanta for Game 6 on Friday night with their season on the line.