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The Philadelphia 76ers found themselves with a golden chance to keep their momentum rolling Thursday night. Following an impressive win over the Boston Celtics Monday, the Sixers were back on their home floor for a matchup with the Atlanta Hawks. Similar to most of the NBA right now, the Hawks were without multiple key players, including All-Star Trae Young.
Despite being down a majority of their rotation, Atlanta managed to steal a victory. Joel Embiid got a good look at the buzzer but could not get it to fall. The Hawks once again walked out of Philadelphia with a nail-biting win.
After the game, players and coaches reflected on what went wrong. First up was Doc Rivers, who felt the team didn't take this matchup as seriously as they should have. “I thought we approached the game very casual, and we played that way. They did whatever they wanted offensively. I thought they were aggressive defensively,” he said.
Between being shorthanded and a lackluster offensive night, this was a very winnable game for the Sixers. That being said, Rivers felt they didn't deserve to come away victorious based on their effort.
“They shot 45% and had 98 points, and we didn't play great defense tonight, but you would take that. You should win a game if that happens at home and we just didn't. We were not ready. I jokingly talk about the basketball gods. It was like they were not going to let you win that game tonight. We didn't deserve to win that game, and we have to own that,” Rivers said postgame.
Later on, Tobias Harris voiced his opinions on Thursday's matchup. He echoed some of the same points made by his head coach and admitted this was a game the team wishes they could have back.
“Like I said before, we were up four points with two minutes left in a game we were down however many points. It was a game we needed to come out of here with a victory, and we didn't,” said Harris.
Rivers and Harris put it best. There is no reason the Sixers should not have walked away with a win on Thursday. They were the healthier team and on their home floor. Playing down to their opponent has once again played a factor in their downfall.
For a team like the Sixers, wins like these are essential. Taking care of business against depleted teams can help them get back on track from when they were the shorthanded squad. Instead, they have now dropped two matchups at home against teams missing multiple star players.
Towards the end of this season, this loss could come back to haunt the Sixers. When the playoff picture is starting to take shape, Thursday might be a game they wish they could get back.
There is no sense dwelling too much on this loss as the outcome cannot be changed. Moving forward, the Sixers need to kick their bad habit of taking shorthanded teams lightly.
