Regaining control of the series

The Sixers are back in the driver's seat. After dropping game one their own homecourt, they returned the favor, punching the Atlanta Hawks in the mouth 127-111 in front of the latter's home crowd.

The impressive victory gives the Sixers back-to-back 16-point wins in the series, and hey appear to be firmly back in command.

Let's get to some thoughts...

--Let's get this out of the way first--losing Danny Green is a blow. Granted, he hasn't been as sharp from deep this postseason (37.8% from three, down from 40.5% in the regular season), and Trae Young may have taken him to task more than a few times this series, but he is still a key member of the opening unit. The Sixers don't have anyone else who balances his low-usage floor-spacing ability with his steady defensive acumen, let alone the steady hand that comes with over 150 games of playoff experience and three rings. George Hill comes closest to approximating Green in all three respects and has the added bonus of being able to handle the ball to spell Ben Simmons a bit, but at 6'4", 185 pounds, he's woefully undersized if forced into a wing position. Besides, at this stage of his career, perhaps he's best utilized in the 15-20 minutes doses he's been receiving. Furkan Korkmaz brings a fiery 3-point stroke at his best (244 makes over the past two regular seasons at 39.0%, 37.5% in these playoffs), but the defensive tradeoff is steep, even factoring in the fourth-year guard's noticeable improvement on that end. Conversely, Matisse Thybulle would actually upgrade the defense considerably--no small feat given Green's reputation on that end--but can still be charitably described as an offensive zero. It'll be interesting to see how Doc Rivers manages this situation.

--Speaking of Korkmaz, he had perhaps his best game of these playoffs. The 23-year-old scored a playoff career-high 14 points and led all players with a +24 plus-minus. His three triples were also a career postseason best. But his was just one strong performance off the bench, as the Sixers' second unit handily outplayed the Hawks' bench, outscoring them 48-32. Dwight Howard had one of his better games of these playoffs as well, with 12 points and 6 boards. Nobody else scored in double figures or posted any individually eye-popping box score numbers, but they complemented the starters well and filled gaps and did their jobs, which, when the starters are so utterly dominant, is more than enough to secure a victory.

--Shouts out to Tobias Harris. 22 points on 16 shots, 8 rebounds, five dimes against a single turnover. Steady number two production. He has failed to reach 20 points in only a single game in these playoffs--and that was a 19-point effort in only 23 minutes. Overall, in 8 games, he has carried over a career-best regular season into a watermark postseason performance: 23.6 points on a strong 53.8/37.0/82.1 slash, a robust 9.3 rebounds and a pleasantly surprising 3.9 assists. He looks aggressive, confident, and just in the zone. Now, it's perhaps no small coincidence that Harris is playing the best ball of his life parallel to Joel Embiid blossoming into possibly the preeminent two-way force in the NBA (indeed: 27 points, 9 rebounds, 8 [!] assists, three blocks and a steal. Ho-hum.). When one guy obliterates the entire game plan of the opposition, things will invariably be made easier for everyone else on his own squad. But it's still up to those other players to capitalize on the opportunities afforded to them. Harris is doing just that--and how.

--Ben Simmons free throw watch! 4-of-8 in this one. That marks an...improvement...over his last two games, in which he made just 3-of-12. He is *up* to 35.4% in the second season. That's...interesting. Curiously, the team as a whole struggled from the line (25-of-39, 64.1%). Embiid went 12-of-16 (75%) for the second consecutive game--that's a solid mark for most big men, but Embiid has hit 82.4% of his freebies over the past three seasons, including 85.9% this year. Even Harris bricked 2 of his three tries tonight, and he was a stone's throw from 90% for the regular season (89.2%). This is becoming a bit of a disturbing trend, as the roster has failed to shoot 70% from the line in any game this series, and in the playoffs overall they are 168-of-245 (68.6%). True, take out Simmons, and the team is doing much better (151-of-197, 76.6%), but it remains a trend that is worth monitoring. Free throws are of extraordinary import in the grimier pace of play in the postseason. They need to be made.

--Now let's flip this around--the Sixers shot 10-of-21 from three in this game, 47.6%. That isn't a high volume of attempts at all of course, but there's something to be said for just making the shots you take. And in these playoffs, they have absolutely done just that: 89-of-227, 39.2%, a marked improvement over their season-long average of 37.4%. Reiterating an earlier point, Green's absence may hurt that percentage, but maybe some positive regression from Harris (39.4% down to 37.0 these playoffs) could mitigate his loss. Mostly, Curry's uptick in volume (6.1 3-point attempts in the playoffs, up from 4.9 in the regular season) has helped in this regard. Me likey good three-point shooting.

What's Next?

Game 4 is set for Monday night at 7:30 p.m. back at the State Farm Arena. Beat the Hawks on their home floor again, and the Sixers will be in prime position to put the series away in front of the Philly faithful.