The Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 132-123 at State Farm Arena on Monday. Both teams were missing a lot of court production on the injury report. Trae Young and Caris leVert sat out for Atlanta. The Sixers were without Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond, Kyle Lowry, and Jared McCain, so their starting lineup looked completely different than the last time these squads faced off. Head Coach Nick Nurse started Jared Butler, Quentin Grimes, Lonnie Walker, Justin Edwards, and Guerschon Yabusele. Atlanta countered with Keaton Wallace replacing Young in their normal starting five.
The Hawks have struggled to score without Young for most of the season but had zero trouble tonight. They posted a 125.5 offensive rating for the game, dominating the points in the paint, 76-46, and rebounding battle, 48-31. They also collected 34 assists and shot 54% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc.
Even though Wallace started at point guard, Dyson Daniels did most of the ballhandling. He got past the 76ers’ perimeter defense all night, finishing layup after layup inside. Daniels led his team with 25 points and 9 assists on 10-14 shooting. Zaccharie Risacher scored 22 points, including 17 in the first half. He had an emphatic putback dunk before halftime to highlight his impressive showing. Terance Mann and Georges Niang totaled 19 and 18 points off the bench, respectively, taking on bigger scoring roles with LeVert sidelined.
The Hawks looked like they would run away with the game after building a 110-88 lead with seven minutes left. However, Philadelphia, led by Grimes and Ricky Council, stormed back in the final five minutes. The Sixers went on a 19-9 run to cut their deficit to 12 and even only trailed by six points with 30 seconds left. Atlanta lifted its foot off the gas pedal, and a young team almost took full advantage.
Grimes dropped 35 points (14-25 FG) with five threes- his third time scoring at least 25 in his last three contests. Council ended with 19 points and Jeff Dowtin Jr. hit 4-6 from downtown for 17 points.
The Hawks now sit 1.5 games ahead of the Orlando Magic for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. They look to extend their win streak to four games when facing the Charlotte Hornets at home on Wednesday night.
