The 76ers stifled a huge lead in a 109-106 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the second half, putting their season on the brink and establishing a winning game in Atlanta on Friday night.

This is what I saw.

Ok

• Joel Embiid didn’t have to make up for his poor performance in the second half in Game 4, but he did hit his best shot against Atlanta on Wednesday night. On the second day of his selection to the NBA All-NBA Second Team, Embiid came out to throw hay machines at both ends of the court.

The NBA’s vicious king almost certainly caught what Clint Capela said after Game 4, and Embiid quickly returned to dominate Capela. Since Furkan Korkmaz remained in the starting lineup, Philadelphia used the Turkish wing as a passer for most of the first quarter because he knew that Trae Young would be the one trying to “double kill” from the strong team.Alone with Capella or on the island almost On an island, Embiid tortured him thoroughly, hitting the big Swiss with physical blows, hook shots and some deadly frontal jumpers.

(Unfortunately, this did not last for the rest of the game. Maybe Mr. Capela has reason to disappoint the big man…)

As in the entire series, I will demonstrate that Embiid has a greater impact on the defensive end.Embiid performed well in the first two and a half quarters Shuttle in the space between Young and Capela to prevent lob attempts and force the Eagles to face many tough base runners in traffic, not even thinking about shooting in the first place. Whenever something went wrong, he would find a way to clean it up.

But, well, the rest of the game also happened, so the dominant opening will eventually be forgotten. that’s terrible.

• If you were asked to rank the most important 76ers in this series, where would you rank Seth Curry? His performance on the offensive end is absolutely sensational. Although his defensive problems sometimes hurt them, Curry made one of his biggest offensive efforts on Wednesday to make it easier for him to appreciate the monitor he wears when shooting.

This year the 76ers, led by Rivers, have a very simple concept: “Feed the pigs.” In other words, if something works, you will continue to go back to that play and that player until the opponent finds a way. Stop it. For a period of time in the third quarter, Curry was the fattest pig on the East Coast. He punished the Eagles outside the cover and put Treyang in his personal torture room. By the end of the quarter, he almost caught up with the points leader Embiid and helped the 76ers spend some time because their offense was a bit sloppy.

Curry’s offensive versatility allowed the 76ers to move him to the full court on Wednesday-as a running shooter, he was definitely a threat. When the Eagles were able to attack him, he left there. And on the way to the basket. This guy is now undergoing an offensive clinic, and he may become the recipient of every ATO for the 76ers until the season ends at this pace.

• On this website, I have repeatedly regretted Matisse Thybulle’s lack of jump shots and wanted to know how this will affect his playoff viability. Hell, I used part of an article the other night to show how much he can compromise their spacing when he is on the floor.

But do you know what he is commendable? always Be prepared to let it fly and never be bothered by reports or circumstances. There are better shooters on the roster, and they can’t get themselves into trouble even with a short shot, as Tobias Harris and Shaq Milton sometimes do on Wednesday. Sabre doesn’t have such hesitation, you need the fearlessness of role players in stressful situations.

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• For most of this series, the 76ers have avoided the full bench, but Rivers has been trying to find a combination of players that can make the second team happy. We may be at the point where George Hill should be eliminated for the game, just to see what they can come up with without him, because this team desperately needs answers now.

Tyrese Maxey will definitely be worse than Hill on the defensive end, where the veteran has been sticking to his trade most of the time, but the substitutes desperately need some speed to get them out of their current sleep. Too much property is wasted when the players are just standing aside and waiting for what happens in the first 14 seconds of the shooting clock. If you don’t have a single shooter to prove this choice is correct, it will be a disaster.

Hill seems to get playing time for no reason, except for “he is a veteran who we want him to perform well”, which is not enough at this stage of the playoffs. Rivers has always been very good at pressing the right button to get troubled players out of the lineup, but Hill is an exception.

• We should talk more about Tobias Harris’ struggles in that particular bench. Since the Simmons-Howard combination is poisonous, he must be the leader of the rest of the bench, but he has been trying to replicate his success in finding mismatches next to other starters.

Part of the reason is because the 76ers can’t even pass the ball to him, which highlights their lack of a trusted point guard on the bench (and the Hill problem, as mentioned above). Shake Milton returned to the rotation with his merits, but he apparently exceeded his depth as a substitute, refusing to make an entry pass while they were on the court, and was caught on the dribble at an untimely time.

Having said that, Harris is pushing the team’s slow, directionless offense through a slow offense. Rivers’ performance to Harris this season is just like what he did in Los Angeles, he begged him to play decisively with and without the ball. That version of Harris was nowhere to be found on Wednesday-his jumper didn’t fall, he couldn’t create too much separation in the low post, and he just didn’t participate so much in the offense. The starting team is okay. Two of them can definitely cook, but the bench needs a life raft, and he should be.

Here’s the thing: Harris was also not good at starting Wednesday. His decisions are everywhere, throwing adventures and/or outright stupid passes, failing to make up for it on either end of the court. The worst part? Harris was ashamed of guns in almost all four quarters, avoiding open shots and stifling the beauty the 76ers can create.

• The big reversal transferor who won Atlanta in the away game felt that it was not the product of anything, and was closer to death than 1,000 advancements. The absolute inability of substitutes to play is a big part of it, of course, but as the starters return to the game, the lead keeps shrinking.

Mainly, the 76ers couldn’t figure out how to stop. Anxiously seeking answers, Nate McMillan chose Tre Young/Louis Williams in the backcourt early in the fourth quarter. Williams was very fierce when facing the bench, even if you admit that he can do this to anyone at any time, you should be able to ignite the two at will. Philadelphia got some good field goal percentages from Curry, just like they did for the rest of the night, but this belies the tedious effort of attacking weak links.

After giving Young control in the first half, he started rolling and never stopped in the second half, leaving the 76ers in an unstable state for most of the last two quarters. It doesn’t matter who is staring at him in Philadelphia, because Young walked past him with little resistance, and Embiid sat in the back position much more than he was at his best early in the game.

After this game, Doc Rivers will catch a lot of shit, which he deserves. Philadelphia could not give an answer on both ends of the court, tacitly throwing the ball to Embiid on offense, and praying that he will save them when Young reaches the second level on defense. We will delve into how and why, but this is a choking effort in history led by a coach who has been involved in several of the most significant collapses in recent NBA history. He will not be pardoned here.

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• Point out that the Atlanta Hawks are actually absolutely fair Lost In the extended period of the first half, they deliberately fouled Ben Simmons. But this has little to do with what Simmons does at the free throw line or in general, and as the playoffs progress, his free throw problem seems to only get worse.

This is not to say that Simmons lacks the support of the home audience-every time he steps to the free throw line, he will be cheered like a wishing kid, as if the fans believe they can make him make one and several. There seems to be no different, which makes people believe that he will not attack more because he is afraid of going to the free throw line.

In other games, you can at least prove that Simmons made up for the difference on the defensive end. Even if Philadelphia slowed down Young’s speed early in the game, the 76ers were automatically switching most of Atlanta’s actions, and other guards (and of course Joel Embiid) did a lot of work to slow Yang’s pace. Simmons certainly has his moments, including a great blockade of Young early in the third quarter, but he is not the star that has sometimes shown on D this season.

Listen, at some point, this guy will be enough. The head coach has changed. He has dealt with his stern love and has been welcomed by the coaches. His center has become an MVP genius. He is still who he was four years ago. A talented but incapable player. When the 76ers found himself in When in danger, steer the boat away from the rocks. They are looking for an upgrade from the main organizer this season for a reason. He is wearing a size 25.

Can you solve the problem of a player falling back from the free throw line so badly in the playoffs? It feels like the answer is no, but so far, this has not stopped the 76ers from winning.

• Joe, I say this to you, fully respecting your commitment to victory-please pay attention to your body, my fellow. There is no need to make a poster dunk attempt in the fourth quarter, it will only put you at risk of further injury to your lower body.

Late in the fourth quarter, Embiid fell to the ground and made a painful grimace, almost quieting the noisy arena. Let us hope that this is only Embiid’s drama, because the alternative is far more terrifying.

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