A team that ranked near league average in offensive efficiency during the regular season popped the ball around the half court and drove it down the Atlanta Hawks’ throats in transition.
For their part in the first half Wednesday night, the Hawks looked like a young squad overwhelmed by the demands of the moment.
“There’s 48 minutes on that clock and pretty much the conversation was we’ve been here before,” coach Nate McMillan said of the message he delivered to the Hawks in the locker room at halftime.
But Wednesday night reached an exceptional level of mayhem, as the energy and confidence of the Sixers and their notoriously boisterous fans leaked out of Wells Fargo Center.
“Even though we kept the lead, I think we had six turnovers in our first 10 possessions to start the third quarter.
With the margin at 22 points and just a minute and a half remaining in the third quarter, Embiid and Curry checked out, while the Hawks inserted their second unit alongside Young.
And defensively, there were too many lapses where we didn’t communicate.” Embiid did not address the media following the game.
Rookie big man Onyeka Okongwu, who played sparingly through much of the regular season and spot minutes in the postseason, wreaked havoc in six minutes, in which he recorded a plus-12: An offensive rebound that led to a couple of free throws.
Then, as the lead dipped to single digits, the Hawks brought out the kitchen sink: “Belt-a-Ben.” Though Simmons converted two of the four free throws gifted by Atlanta’s intentional fouls, Rivers yanked him as his team nursed a six-point lead with 3 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the game.
Simmons is a star-level player, which lends the spectacle of Belt-a-Ben some intrigue.
Over the course of three possessions that vaulted the Hawks into the lead with 1:26 remaining, Young unleashed his holy trinity: a pull-up, a floater and a devilish 3-point attempt from Easttown that deked Matisse Thybulle into a collision and sent Young to the line.
By the time Collins blocked Harris at the rim, Curry missed a bomb from distance and Embiid uncharacteristically clanked a couple of free throws, the Hawks had wrested what little fortitude remained for the Sixers.
Prior to Wednesday night, they were 165-0 when leading by 25 or more points over the past 25 seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.