ATLANTA — It had been a marathon week for the 76ers with four games in six days and after Saturday night’s 98-87 victory (see game breakdown) over the Atlanta Hawks at the Philips Arena, the strain was beginning to show. Ice buckets and gauze outnumbered empty Gatorade bottles as the Sixers held on to finish the week 3-1.
It wasn’t easy. Andre Iguodala sat hunched over in a chair where he described how he took an elbow to the top of his head only to get an elbow in the face the next time down the floor. Spencer Hawes, in his first game since Jan. 16, said his balky Achilles was frozen after a long soak in one of those buckets of ice.
Yet despite another tiring week, the Sixers had again avoided losing two games in a row and pushed their record to 17-7 in the process. Sure, they’re tired, but they are winning. So as a few Sixers licked their wounds, Evan Turner strolled into the room singing, “Wonderwall,” as his teammates laughed and offered critiques of his singing prowess.
It was the same reaction Turner’s teammates had when his errant alley-oop pass went in for a three-pointer.
“A bucket is a bucket is a bucket,” said Lou Williams, who was one of six Sixers to score in double-figures.
Regardless, in a season filled with odd moments, on-the-fly roster adjustments and lots and lots of ice, the Sixers continue to turn heads around the NBA. As it stands, the team owns a four-game lead over the Celtics in the Atlantic Division and hold the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Saturday night, the Sixers finally had their entire lineup back in place, save for Elton Brand, who sat out with a sprained right thumb. In his first game after missing the last 10, Hawes went 32 minutes and scored 14 points. With the starting center back in place, the Sixers shot 50 percent (44 for 88) in the game, enhanced by a torrid 17-for-23 (73.9 percent) spurt in the second quarter when they built a 16-point lead.
Coach Doug Collins always talks about how Hawes is the linchpin of the offense and was proven right against the Hawks.
“Tonight I watched a couple of clips at halftime and plays that would have broken down when he was out – he’s ball friendly,” Collins said. “He comes to the ball then our guys love to work off him. They know if they cut, he’ll find them.”
Hawes admitted to having a bit of rust in his first game in 19 days and said his first couple of trips up and down the floor he was sucking wind. But once he got back into the flow of things, it was kind of like riding a bike.
“We were stagnant at times, but we got enough stops,” Hawes said. “It wasn’t perfect, but it doesn’t click right away. Hopefully it will get better as we move forward.”
Rookie Nikola Vucevic also played his first significant minutes since injuring his quad/knee against Miami two weeks ago. In 21 minutes, Vucevic scored a team-high 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
Certainly, the Sixers are a different team when they have a couple of big men on the floor.
“Size,” Collins said. “You look and I had Nik and Spencer out there together because I did not want to go to Thad [Young] too early. Lavoy got his fourth foul early in the third quarter and I did not want to put Thad out there because he’ll get worn down, especially with four games in six nights. So I had those big guys out there together and just the size, the bodies. When you drive you run into people and there is nowhere to go. That’s a great thing.”
It wasn’t all about offense, either. The Sixers took a 20-point lead into the third quarter because they were able to limit the Hawks’ looks from three-point range while making them battle for points in the paint. With center Al Horford out for the season, the Hawks’ only effective player in the low post was Ivan Johnson, who came off the bench to post 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Remove Johnson from the equation and the Sixers’ defense achieved its goals. With Hawes, Vucevic and birthday boy Allen making his first NBA start, the Hawks were forced to settle for a lot of mid-range jumpers, and they didn’t make too many of them, either.
“Any time you defend, you have a chance,” Collins said. “These guys averaged 101 points a game at home and they got 20 fast-break points a game. You look at it tonight and they had four fast-break points, they shot 43 percent and they scored 87 points. If you do that, you have a chance because there will be nights when you don’t score.”
The Sixers scored enough on Saturday night, for sure. Better yet, they turned a potential losing streak into another winning streak.
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