It was a mason’s convention down in Atlanta tonight, as the Sixers and Hawks produced enough bricks to build a small village. The Hawks ultimately prevailed 95-79 behind 17pts apiece for Kyle Korver and Paul Milsap. Alexey Shved led the Sixers with 13pts, and MCW broke his streak of great games with a near quadruple double of 8pts, 10rebs, 9 assists, and 9 TOs. The Hawks have now won 8 straight games and sit in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference.
This was an UGLY game, with both teams struggling to score. This is perhaps not surprising for the Sixers, who rank last in the league in adjusted offensive rating, but the Hawks rank 7th in the league at 103.7 pts/game. I’ll give the Sixers some credit for their interior defense on the Hawks, as the Sixers length and athleticism lead to 10 blocks compared to only one for the Hawks. But the Sixers defensive plan on the perimeter basically amounted to “leave the Hawks open and hope they miss.” To their credit, it almost worked as the Hawks only shot 41% for the game, well below their season mark of 47.5%, which is good for 4th in the league. The difference maker in this game was that the Hawks took 19 more shots than the Sixers, largely due to dominance on the offensive boards (16 for the Hawks compared to 7 for the Sixers). The Sixers were outrebounded overall 52-39, and I gotta say I am really sick of seeing Nerlens Noel average 5 boards a game. C’mon son, you’re giant and can jump out of the gym! Get some boards!
It wasn’t a horrible shooting night for everyone in the gym however. On the day Jimmy Rollins was traded, triggering loads of nostalgia in the Philly area, Sixers fans also got a dose of nostalgia watching Kyle Korver drain 3s from all over the floor. He led the Hawks in scoring (along with Milsap) with 17pts on 6-11 shooting, including 5-7 from downtown. There’s been some nice ink on Korver recently as he is in the midst of a potential record breaking 3pt shooting season, currently averaging 55% on the year, which is just insane. If he manages to keep this up all year, he’ll break the current single season record of 53.6% set in the 09-10 season by … Kyle Korver. Personally I’m happy to see the guy succeeding so much, and find it super impressive that he’s enjoying his best shooting season 12 years into the league. K2 does indeed = 3.
Probably the most noteworthy event of the night for the Sixers happened off the floor, as Hinkie was up to his usual tricks, trading Brandon Davies to the Nets for Andrei Kirilenko (likely to be waived), a 2020 second round pick, rights to swap 2018 second round picks, and little used backup PG Jorge Gutierrez. I mean, what else is there to say other than:
On the floor, there wasn’t much of note for the Sixers in this one other than the aforementioned blocks. Henry Sims started the game for the Sixers, but was benched in the 2nd half in favor of Robert Convington, clearly a move to try to help the Sixers anemic offense. It didn’t really work, as Big Shot Bobbington went 3-11 (2-6 from downtown) for 9 pts. I will shout out Jerami Grant though, who after missing much of the early season has been showing some flashes in the last few games. Grant had 10pts on 5-7 shooting with 3 boards, and assist, a steal, and a block. Jerami is LONG. He can get to the cup with what seems like 2 long quick strides. He also was covering Al Horford a lot in this game, and did a pretty decent job fronting him despite an obvious weight disparity. He could prove to be Hinkie’s second productive 2nd rounder from this past draft (after KJ The God of course).
While their defense is getting noticed a bit, the Sixers are still an excersize in offensive futility. Until we find a reliable scoring option, wins against good teams like the Hawks are going to be hard to come by.
