3 observations: Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons lead Sixers past Hawks in Game 3
The Philadelphia 76ers entered State Farm Arena on Friday night looking to accomplish one thing: take back home-court advantage after losing it in Game 1.
The task got tougher when Philadelphia lost Danny Green in the first quarter, but they were able to get big performances out of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons to come away with a 127-111 win in Game 3. Embiid led Philadelphia with 27 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists and Simmons added 18 points and seven assists in the big win.
Tobias Harris added 22 and eight rebounds with five assists, Furkan Korkmaz had 14 points off the bench in a big effort, Seth Curry had 12 points, Matisse Thybulle had seven and two steals, and Dwight Howard had 12 points and six rebounds.
Here are the observations following the big win in Atlanta:
Bench adjustments
After being a disaster as a unit in Game 2, the bench came out in this one and they provided a huge spark. Korkmaz scored 11 points in the opening quarter as he took full advantage of the open looks in this one and Thybulle had two swipes in the first which led to four points of his own. The play of Thybulle, Korkmaz, and Howard in the first quarter was huge to give the Sixers a lead early on. Coach Doc Rivers went back to Shake Milton as his first guard off the bench, as he hinted pregame, and he rewarded his coach with a strong effort early on. Rivers also had Harris out there with the bench unit in an effort to get more scoring out of that unit which is a good adjustment to help with the scoring issues. They had 30 points as a unit in the first half as they were a huge difference-maker in this game.
Curry, Simmons pick up the slack
With Green going out in the first quarte due to a right calf strain, the Sixers needed somebody to step up and provide the spacing needed for the offense to flow. That is where Curry comes in with his hot shooting. He has been terrific in this series and it continued in Game 3 on Friday. Philadelphia really needed him in this one and he was able to answer the call. It also helped that Simmons was pushing the pace for the offense and that is when Philadelphia is at their best on offense. The number of looks that Simmons was able to create for Curry and the rest of the team was paramount in this one. He also seemed to adjust his game at halftime and looked to score more in the second half which is always a good thing for Philadelphia. The offense takes another level when he is looking to score more.
Better transition defense
The Hawks are a team that will get out and run when given the chance. It is not as huge a part of their offense as it is with the Washington Wizards, but with athletic guys like Young, John Collins, and Bogdan Bogdanovic, they will take advantage of an opportunity. The Sixers did an excellent job of getting back on defense and sticking to their man and making the Hawks play a half-court style of basketball. Their length then bothered Atlanta from there. Simmons did an excellent job of staying on his feet against Young and making life miserable for him. When Philadelphia is able to set their defense as they were in this one, that makes life absolutely tough on an opponent. The Sixers just have too much length and the IQ of their roster is impressive on the defensive end. This is a game that shows off what the team is capable of on that end of the floor.
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