The Philadelphia 76ers took a huge step towards progressing to the Eastern Conference Finals after they defeated the Atlanta Hawks in their own home court in Game 3 on Friday. The Sixers did a great job preventing Trae Young from carrying his team to another victory, which proved to be a key factor to Philly's success in Game 3.

After the game, Sixers superstar Joel Embiid had nothing but praise for Young. In particular, the banged-up Philly big man is impressed by Young's ability to get to the line:

“He’s a smart basketball player,” Embiid said, via Justin Grasso of FanNation. “A lot of people complain, or we complain about fouls, but me being in the same situation about getting on the free throw line — it’s more about basketball IQ. It’s hard to guard him. Especially coming off those picks, and you can’t get close to him because he’s smart enough to know how to get to the free-throw line.”

Trae Young is as good as they come in terms of creating contact and drawing fouls. As Embiid stated above, this isn't exactly taken well by the opposition, with some even branding this style of play as “flopping.” Nevertheless, there's no denying that Young is truly effective in what he does, which has resulted in the Hawks star emerging as one of the brightest young talents in the NBA today.

The good news for the Sixers is that they seem to have figured out how to stop Trae Young. They've secured back-to-back wins in Games 2 and 3 after the Hawks stole away Game 1 in Philly. By managing to score a win on Friday, Embiid and Co. have been able to restore home-court advantage, as they look to go 3-1 up in the series when these two teams face off again for Game 4.