Sixers struggle on defense, fall to Atlanta for their second straight loss

ATLANTA -- The 76ers suffered yet another ugly loss to a losing team.

This time, it was a 130-122 setback to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night at the State Farm Arena. As a result, the Sixers (49-29) have lost two straight and four of their last six games.

The Hawks (29-50), meanwhile, have won five of their last six games. Atlanta has also won three of the four season-series meetings against the Sixers. This defeat came two days after Philly suffered a 122-102 loss to the 31-47 Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center.

Wednesday’s loss coupled with the Boston Celtics’ victory over the Miami Heat kept Boston (47-32) in the race for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Philly now needs two wins in the remaining four games to clinch the third seed in the playoffs. The Sixers could also get it with a victory combined with a Celtics loss.

The Sixers’ other losses during the six-game stretch were to the Orlando Magic (March 25) and the Hawks (March 23).

“Again, you want to be playing your best basketball heading into the playoffs,” JJ Redick said. “The alternative to that doesn’t look as good, doesn’t feel as good. So you want to be playing good basketball.”

They did what they’ve done all season — struggle on defense. The Sixers were, once again, terrible against the pick-and-roll, which led to poor rotations and open three-pointers.

The team “is trying to find somebody that can really do a great job on those dynamic pick-and-roll guards,” coach Brett Brown said. “You know, we’ve been searching all year to try to find an answer, and we’re still at times searching.”

The Hawks shot 52.2 percent while making 12 of 36 three-pointers. They had 72 points at intermission.

On the night, the Sixers started “blitzing” Atlanta rookie guard Trae Young in an attempt to get the ball out of his hands. It didn’t work due to the challenges they have defending the pick-and-roll.

Young finished with 33 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds. John Collins added 25 points and 8 rebounds as all five Hawks starters scored in double figures. The duo thrilled in a two-man game.

Redick said the Sixers have had the same communication issues on defense all season. Yet, he doesn’t know why the issues have remained. Ben Simmons has his own thoughts to why the defense continues to be a problem.

“There’s been a lot of switching,” he said. “A lot of trades, and everybody’s trying to get on the same page. That’s probably it.”

And Jimmy Butler on his team’s recent defensive struggles?

“Joel Embiid,” he said of not having the huge defensive presence around.

Wednesday marked the third consecutive game and 13th overall that Embiid has missed this season because of tendinitis in his left knee.

“I think a lot of things that we do is based on that guy,” Butler added. “I’m not putting it on him. It’s just the truth.”

But Butler thinks the Sixers need to get better as a whole. He adds that they need to cover for one another and get better in second and third efforts.

“We didn’t take anything from them,” he said. “And we [dang] sure didn’t get back. Overall, it wasn’t a good one.”

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Sixers walked out of the arena battered and bruised.

James Ennis III left the game in the fourth quarter with a right thigh bruise and didn’t return. He was hobbling on the court before leaving the game.

This was his second game back after missing two games with the bruise.

But he wasn’t the only banged-up Sixer.

Jonah Bolden suffered a bloody nose less than two minutes into the game. Simmons lost a tooth in the fourth quarter. And Butler was hit in the eye by Young while both were going for the ball near midcourt with 32.5 seconds left in the game.

If there was a bright spot, it was Redick’s milestone.

The shooting guard finished with 30 points while making 6-of-13 three-pointers on a night he broke the Sixers’ single-season record for made three-pointers. He has 231 with four games remaining. Kyle Korver set the former franchise record of 226 during the 2004-05 season.

“I got a few text message, and a few of the guys that are on Instagram told me congrats,” Redick said. “I knew that if I hit multiple threes, I would do it tonight, but I don’t know which one it was. But I figured by the end of the third [quarter] that I probably had it.”

Source: Basketball-Reference.com

Tobias Harris added 21 points for the Sixers. Simmons had 15 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists. Butler finished 16 points and 7 rebounds after missing Monday’s game with back tightness.

The swingman didn’t participate in the team’s morning shootaround at the arena. He was at the hotel, receiving treatment.

However, Butler arrived at the arena several hours before the game to test his back in a workout. It was announced that he would play 1 hour, 39 minutes before the contest. Butler suffered the injury in Saturday’s 118-109 victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.

Meanwhile, the Hawks were without Vince Carter (load management), Dewayne Dedmon (left ankle soreness), Miles Plumlee (left knee cartilage injury), Alex Poythress (right ankle sprain), and Omari Spellman (left ankle sprain).

Carter was a part of the Hawks’ television broadcast team for Fox Sports South.