For the first time in over a decade, Hawks have officially given the city of Atlanta something to truly cheer for. With Wednesday’s 109-106 Game 5 victory, Atlanta is just one win away from an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, their first appearance since the 2015-2016 NBA season.
The first three quarters weren’t the prettiest, but the Hawks managed to overcome a 26-point deficit against the Sixers to take a 3-2 series lead heading into Atlanta for Game 6 on Friday. Philadelphia’s 26-point blown lead is the third-largest blown lead in a playoff game over the last 25 postseasons, according to ESPN.
“Eventually when we took the lead, we knew we needed to execute and we needed to be connected on both ends of the floor, and they did that,” said Hawks coach Nate McMillan after the game. “I really don’t have words to describe this comeback tonight.”
With just over two minutes left in the third quarter, the Sixers were up 24 points and had a 99.7% chance of winning, then Lou Williams happened. Once Williams entered the game in the third quarter down 21 points, the Hawks went on a 55-31 run since that point, and he played the rest of the way.
Williams was +31 in 23 minutes of play providing 15 points, three assists, and two steals, including 7-for-11 shooting from the field.
Trae Young had 39 points in the win as he continues to shine incredibly throughout these NBA playoffs. Young scored 13 of the final 17 points for Atlanta, including three free throws to give the Hawks their first lead at 105-104 with just 1:26 remaining in the game.
“For a team that has no All-Stars, no All-Defensive players, no All-NBA players, this team is fighting,” said Young in a postgame interview. “I think we’ve just had that chip on our shoulder all year, just being overlooked and just having that underdog mentality.”
Joel Embiid’s 17-point first quarter on 8-for-8 shooting led the Sixers to their 26-point lead and almost a Game 5 victory. Instead, Embiid and Curry ended up as the only Sixers to make a field goal in the second half as Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons went 0-for-5 from the field combined.
On a partially torn meniscus, Embiid ended with a double-double, providing 37 points and 13 rebounds. Curry scored 36 points for the Sixers on 7-for-13 shooting from three-point range.
McMillan continued his “Hack-a-Simmons” scheme in the second half of the game as the NBA All-Star went 2-for-6 from the free-throw line. Simmons missed 10 total free throws throughout the game and scored just eight points in the loss.
Despite the history of teams continuously blowing leads under Doc Rivers in the playoffs, the future Hall of Fame coach believes the Sixers will be back on their homecourt for Game 7.
“We’ll be back here for Game 7,” said Rivers. “I believe that.”
For Game 6, the Sixers will play the Hawks in Atlanta on Friday night to potentially force a Game 7.
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