The Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks are in a deadlock in their second-round series. The Hawks shocked Philly with a come-from-behind in Game 4 to tie the series up. Will they be able to get the win in Game 5 and notch the 3-2 series lead? Or will the Sixers shut Trae Young and the Hawks at home? Check out our preview of this game below.
There’s no quit in Trae Young and the Hawks. Despite going down by as many as 18 points in Game 4, the Hawks did not lose their desire to win, as they clawed their way back to steal Game 4 with a 103-100 victory. Young did not shoot particularly well in Game 4, but the Hawks needed him to be active. He shot 8 of 26 from the field for 25 points while also dishing out a grand total of 18 assists. Young is still Atlanta’s best player and top facilitator and they will continue giving him the ball. So far in the series, Young is averaging 27.3 points and 11.8 assists per game. Atlanta’s trying to play fast in this series, perhaps believing that shot volume would benefit the team. The Hawks took 101 shots in Game 4 to just 85 by the Sixers and also launched 13 more shots from deep than Philly. They seem to be sacrificing a bit of quality for quantity, which isn’t that bad of an idea since Atlanta has lots of gunners in the likes of Young, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kevin Huerter, and Danilo Gallinari.
The Hawks are 6-2 against the spread in their last eight games after a win.
Is there something wrong with Joel Embiid? The Sixers’ big man finished Game 4 with just 17 points on a horrible 4-of-20 shooting from the field. He did grab 21 rebounds, though, so it’s probably just a case of an off night for the Cameroonian. However, you should still monitor his status going into Game 5, as Embiid is playing with a partial tear on his meniscus. The Sixers can’t afford to lose Embiid, so at the very least, they should try to ease some load off his shoulders. Tobias Harris is already doing a great job at that while Furkan Korkmaz had a nice output of 10 points on 4-of-0 shooting in Game 4 as a replacement for the injured Danny Green in the starting unit. Harris, however, needs to be more assertive, especially in the second half. In the fourth quarter of Game 4, he only took a couple of shots. The same goes for Ben Simmons, who only had three points, a rebound, and an assist in the final two quarters.
The Sixers are 4-1 against the spread in their last five games following a loss.
