Sixers lose to Hawks and ex-teammate Ersan Ilyasova
In their brief time together with the 76ers, Dario Saric and Ersan Ilyasova struck up a good friendship, the latter serving as a mentor to the rookie.
In their brief time together with the 76ers, Dario Saric and Ersan Ilyasova struck up a good friendship, the latter serving as a mentor to the rookie.
The two were reacquainted Wednesday as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Sixers, 99-92, at the Wells Fargo Center.
Atlanta's Dwight Howard had 22 points and 20 rebounds and Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kent Bazemore added 19 points apiece. The Sixers were led by center Richaun Holmes, who scored a career-high 25 points. T.J. McConnell added 13 points and eight assists.
The subplot of this game was the matchup of Saric and Ilyasova. For most of the game, both 6-foot-10 forwards were guarding each other.
It was a rough night for Saric, who scored 15 points and had seven rebounds, but shot just 5 of 18 from the field. Ilyasova had 14 points and three rebounds, shooting 5 of 10 from the field.
"We always went against each other in practice and now it was a different atmosphere," Ilyasova said. "I tried to stay in front of him and kind of knew what he would do next and it was kind of easy for me to read him, but he made good plays and he is really improving a lot."
Both teams were playing the second of back-to-backs, with the Sixers winning Tuesday in Brooklyn and Atlanta victorious at home against Phoenix.
The injury-plagued Sixers used only eight players and Saric, who played 39 minutes, 14 seconds, admitted he was bushed.
"Eight players, it was hard," Saric said.
Ilyasova set the tone early by scoring 12 points as the Hawks jumped out to a 25-18 first-quarter lead.
"He was their best player in the first quarter," Saric said. "After that, he tried to spread the court, make more situations one-on-one for [Dennis] Schroder.
Schroder, the Hawks point guard, had 14 points. He drove consistently to the basket but also committed nine turnovers.
Since Ilyasova was traded to the Hawks on Feb. 22, Saric has flourished and emerged as the leading candidate for NBA rookie of the year.
Acquired from Oklahoma City on Nov. 1, Ilyasova averaged 14.8 points in his 53-game Sixers career. His departure gave Saric more minutes and confidence.
Entering Wednesday's game, Saric had averaged 19.3 points and 7.8 rebounds in 32.3 minutes since Ilyasova was traded. Before the trade, Saric was averaging 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game.
"It was nice to see my old teammate, my kind of mentor for me, and he helped me a lot," Saric said.
It wouldn't be a Sixers game without injuries to report. Besides center Jahlil Okafor missing his fourth straight game with right knee soreness, Robert Covington was sidelined with right knee discomfort.
Then again, the Hawks were playing their seventh straight game without four-time all-star forward Paul Millsap, who has been sidelined with a left knee injury.
Atlanta (39-36) remained in fifth place in a tight Eastern Conference
The Sixers (28-47) trailed by 11 points early in the fourth quarter but got to within 83-81 on Justin Anderson's dunk with 8:20 remaining.
At that point, Ilyasova reentered the game and the Sixers never got any closer. Hardaway hit a three on the next possession and the Hawks stayed up by at least four points the rest of the way.
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