Sixers Fall to Atlanta in Double Overtime Despite Return of Embiid, Edgecombe

After a whirlwind of a fourth quarter and overtime, the Sixers were unable to come back and fell to the Atlanta Hawks in double overtime, 142-134, on Sunday night. A missed free throw by Dominick Barlow with about 12 seconds left in regulation was rebounded by Paul George, leading to a Tyrese Maxey three-pointer to send the game to overtime. However, all efforts after that were for naught.

Philadelphia drops to 10-9 on the season, and holds the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks improve to 13-8 and are now the 5 seed in the East.

The highlight of the night was the final minute of regulation, which had the Sixers crawl back from a 114-108 deficit with 30 seconds left to force overtime. With a little over 20 seconds remaining, Joel Embiid scored a quick close-range bucket to make it a 4-point game. Philly proceeded to foul, sending Jalen Johnson to the line, who made one of his free throws. The Sixers took advantage of this opportunity. Barlow attacked the rim, got fouled, and hit the layup. But with about 12 seconds on the clock, he missed his free throw that would have made it a two-point ball game. George went up and snagged the board, took the ball to the corner, and swung it to Maxey, who drilled the three. Philly got a stop on the other end of the floor, but after the rebound, Nick Nurse signaled to the ref to call a timeout — a request that was ignored. Nurse was infuriated, and the game went to OT despite the missed timeout by the ref.

Scoring was back and forth the entirety of the overtime periods, with the score difference never increasing to over 2 points until 2:25 remained in the second overtime. From there, the Hawks held a 3-point lead and never looked back. Leading 135-132, the Hawks went on to finish the game on a 7-2 run and handed Philadelphia their 9th loss of the season.

Maxey led the Sixers in scoring, dropping 44 points in 52 minutes. He went 14 for 31 from the field, but only knocked down 2 of his 13 three-point attempts. His domination late in the game led Philadelphia to overtime, but it wasn’t enough to bring it home.

Along with Maxey, Quentin Grimes‘ scoring performance off the bench was, once again, elite. Grimes put up 28 points on 8 for 15 shooting from the field, and hit 4 threes in the effort. Additionally, Grimes snagged 10 rebounds. His consistency off the bench has had a huge impact for the Sixers, even with the loss to Atlanta.

Philadelphia had countless issues containing Johnson, who, despite the absence of Trae Young and Kristaps Porzingis due to injury and illness, had no problem leading the Hawks to victory. Johnson responded to Maxey’s 44 with 41 of his own, with a 10 21 shooting clip. Johnson denied just about every opportunity Philly had to come back late in double overtime, finishing three after three and free throws. The forward also added 14 rebounds and 7 assists to the score sheet, and hit an astounding 17 of his 22 free throws.

Embiid and VJ Edgecombe returned to action after a knee and calf injury, respectively, but things didn’t look too hot. Embiid dropped 18 points, but looked sluggish throughout the whole game. His efforts defending the ball and grabbing rebounds were abysmal, and it seems like he can’t move down the court without pain. Edgecome got the start in his first game back since the injury, but was only able to score 7 points.

Philadelphia’s comeback late in the game gave hope to the fans, but they couldn’t close it out. The 76ers move on to play the Washington Wizards on Tuesday at home, and Atlanta will take on Detroit in Michigan tomorrow night.

Evan Hartenstein

Evan has been a member of the Philly Sports Reports team since March 2023. He is covering the 76ers and wants to pursue a long-lasting career in Sports Journalism.

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