Sixers lose a rollercoaster game to Hawks in Atlanta

The Sixers lost a wild one in overtime to the Hawks on Wednesday night, falling 139-132 despite getting 32 points from Tobias Harris and 35 from Tyrese Maxey.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— For three quarters or so, it was not the rip-roaring Tyrese Maxey performance we all would have hoped for with Joel Embiid on the shelf. His shooting slump from deep continues, with Maxey’s steady diet of pull-up jumpers producing a handful of bricks against Atlanta. But if you’re able to set aside the outside shot, I thought there was some genuinely inspired stuff from No. 0.

Let’s start with a weird thing — a Maxey turnover. In the first half, he was picked off by Bogdan Bogdanovic while trying to hit a skip pass over the top for a corner three. If it happened all of the time, you’d be upset, but seeing Maxey looking for that pass was the key. As he is getting more time on-ball for Philly, he is going through more reads and getting a touch more ambitious as a passer. That might lead to some issues in the short term but will be an important part of unlocking playoff defenses in the long term.

Maxey’s passing was a giant positive overall, with the diversity of passes the most encouraging part. There were drop-offs, wrap passes, and kick-outs to the perimeter, and the assists kept coming as the night wore on. It was more of a challenge to get his own with all of his jumpers falling short, but Maxey made up for that with some great rim attacking, punishing the Hawks for playing too far up on him on the perimeter.

The missing jumper is and has been a big problem for Maxey, who relies on the sidestep and stepback jumpers as a big part of his arsenal. The funk he’s in shooting the ball has him occasionally second-guessing instead of trusting the work he has put in, which is the last thing they want to see from him. But Atlanta’s inability to contain him on the perimeter gave him an out all night, with Maxey breaking down Dejounte Murray, Trae Young, and other helpless defenders who tried to stay in front of him. He punched a couple in the fourth quarter, including this beauty:

Had he not fouled out, maybe the outcome would have been different. He got shots to fall late, and looked on the verge of putting this one away. Oh well.

— Jaden Springer has some offensive issues to overcome to be an everyday rotation guy, but nobody can ignore his defensive credentials. He has been one of their best perimeter stoppers since the moment he jumped to the league, just waiting for the rest of his game to catch up.

Just ask Trae Young how he feels about Springer’s defense after Wednesday night’s game. Young is a guy who can leave defenders scratching their heads, between an elite offensive skill set and his ability to draw fouls if you lack discipline. And Springer spent three or four minutes on Young where Young had nothing working. Not the shot, not drives, not playmaking, not even the foul grifting. It was the younger guy who eventually got into the All-Star’s head, with Young coughing up a bad turnover as a result of his inability to break down Springer. When you have a high-level scorer second-guessing his ability to put it in the hoop, you’ve left your mark.

It’s not reasonable to expect him to control games on defense for five minutes at a time, but man was it fun to watch him do it this time.

— Marcus Morris’ blistering start from three has given way to more average results over the last few weeks, but he gave them a big lift off of the bench against the Hawks. The second quarter was Morris time in the best way possible, with the vet forward heating up from deep on almost nothing but above-the-break threes.

While I continue to have reservations about his place in the rotation, you can see why Nurse keeps leaning on him. He’s got just enough self-creation ability to get to a spot and bail the team out of stagnant possessions, and the catch-and-shoot ability is undeniable.

The Bad

— I won’t accuse Kelly Oubre of actively sabotaging the Sixers, though I’m not sure there’s a functional difference between sabotage and what he offered against the Hawks. His level of play was heinous, and if they had more healthy players, it would have been appropriate to glue him to the bench. Between some space cadet moments on defense and some ill-advised shots, his decision-making was as poor as I can remember it being all season.

The version of Oubre we’ve seen lately has been a reminder of what went wrong for him at his other stops. With Marcus Morris amid his first-half heater, Kelly Oubre decided an early clock pull-up three was needed to try to keep pace with his buddy on the bench, and the result was about what you’d expect: a big ol’ brick. But even when Oubre had his feet set under him and was justified in letting one go, the results were miserable in Atlanta, with some of his shots barely kissing the front of the rim.

Arguably his biggest “impact” moment in this game was his ridiculous foul on Jalen Johnson in the final two minutes of regulation, when Oubre had a choice between letting him go or preventing a shot attempt. Instead of doing one of the two things you’re supposed to do in that situation, he gave Johnson a slight tap on the way by, gifting the Hawks wing an and-one opportunity that he converted. That was technically the only reason the game went to overtime. Thanks, Kelly!

— Tobias Harris’ offensive contributions were much-needed on Wednesday night, with the Sixers in desperate need of some scoring punch with Joel Embiid out again. And as he has noted many times in the past, I think a lot of that comes down to Harris being in rhythm from a steady diet of touches.

Harris didn’t just get touches by default. One of the things that defines Harris’ best games are his effort to seek the ball wherever he might have to get it. It’s Harris flying down the floor in transition, forcing his teammates to throw the outlet pass to the streaking forward. It’s Harris sizing up a smaller player and waving for the ball on the block, bullying guys who can’t match him like-for-like.

Once it was clear he had it rolling, Philly wasn’t inclined to mess it up. The Sixers gave Harris the ball at his favorite spots and just let him go to work, and there was some excellent mid-post work from No. 12 throughout the evening. His transition play, which has been strong for a lot of this season, was also excellent.

It was also worth noting this was one of the worst defensive games he has played all season, and arguably one of the worst of his Sixers tenure. Every time you looked up, it felt like Harris was involved in some sort of miscommunication or blown rotation. The Sixers had him guard a wide variety of players, ranging from center Onyeka Okongwu to point guard Trae Young, and it didn’t feel like Harris made a positive impact in any of those matchups. He was constantly getting caught napping away from the ball, with cutters sliding behind him for easy baskets around the hoop.

Did he make up for that with the scoring? Maybe? I didn’t like this game even with the awesome offensive output. Maybe I’m just being a hater, but it is what it is.

The Ugly

— The Hawks challenged a foul call in the third quarter, successfully got Trae Young’s foul overturned, and then got called for a goaltending violation on a play the officials initially ruled didn’t meet the standard for continuation. Can’t say I’ve seen that one before.

— Tyrese Maxey’s sixth foul was soft for a sixth foul, but it’s a call Joel Embiid gets like 9/10 times. Those are the breaks.

— It was a little easier to appreciate Paul Reed’s slapstick comedy moments when he was an end-of-bench player on a minimum contract who barely played. Now that he’s a real-deal rotation guy, on a decent-sized deal, some expectations come along with that. I may just be reading too heavily into a couple of games, but Nick Nurse’s patience for Reed appears to be wearing thin.

Reed had some nice moments in the first half of this game, including a beautiful reverse layup for an and-one and some strong drives to the hoop. Unfortunately for Reed, he ended up in foul trouble, and more pertinently, he decided he would try to go coast-to-coast after grabbing a defensive rebound. Nurse immediately called for Mo Bamba to spell him, earning Reed a seat on the bench after he had already sat for most of the half.

It’s the second time in a week Reed was pulled right after trying to do too much. Nurse preached offensive freedom upon arrival in Philly, but it seems Reed is a guy who he believes needs to focus on what he’s actually good at. I’ll leave you with this — I would not be surprised if the Sixers went after another backup big over the next month.

(And by the way — I thought Reed was pretty good in the second half, and then didn’t get used in overtime. Just something to keep an eye on, if you’re asking this guy.)