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Tim Bontemps
Philadelphia– joel embiid Played its first game in three weeks Sunday night, but the star center’s comeback wasn’t enough philadelphia 76ers lost 142-134 till atlanta hawks In double overtime.
It was the first time this season that Embiid, paul george And tyreese maxi Played together, and Maxi carried most of the offensive load, finishing with 44 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds in 52 minutes. but hawks ahead jalen johnson Responded with 41 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists to help Atlanta win.
“I think it was more about tenacity than composure,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “But I think when we didn’t have the balance, or we made mistakes, we were able to step up and make enough plays when we needed to and we put ourselves in a position. [to win] — as they did.
“We’re glad it went our way.”
It appeared the Hawks were in control, leading by six points with less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation. Embiid’s tip-in cut the Sixers’ deficit to 114–110 with 22.1 seconds remaining. After Johnson hit one of two free throws, dominic barlow A layup, and Maxi tied the score at 3 with 8.8 seconds left.
“It’s not over until it’s over,” said George, who had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 28 minutes. “We kind of stayed in the fight.”
After Johnson missed a tie-up with 7.7 seconds remaining in the first overtime, Maxey – an 86.8% career foul shooter – went to the line for two free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining to give the 76ers a four-point lead. Instead, he missed both.
“I thought I’m going to make them, and then we’ll figure it out,” Maxi said. “But, that’s life.”
On the next possession, Johnson drove to the basket and was fouled by Barlow with 0.3 seconds remaining. After this, 76ers coach Nick Nurse called timeout. He said after the game that he took one of his two remaining timeouts to ice Johnson and wanted to use his final timeout if he had both to draw a play to potentially win the game.
However, crew chief James Capers thought the nurse challenged the call, and conducted a review. Capers initially said Philadelphia had lost the challenge with 1.1 left on the clock. But the nurse informed officials that she had not called for a challenge, and the clock was reset to 0.3 seconds.
“There was a misunderstanding among the authorities, and we wondered when [Nurse] “Timeout said he wanted to challenge the game,” Capers said in a pool report. “Because we didn’t have a legal challenge, we couldn’t follow what we saw in the challenge. Before that, the foul was called with 0.3 on the clock.”
After a long delay, Johnson hit both free throws to send the game into a second overtime.
Embiid, who played a season-high 30 minutes, did not play in the second overtime after missing the previous nine games due to right knee soreness. He finished with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting.
VJ EdgecombeJoe, who had missed the last three games because of a calf problem, scored seven points in 21 minutes and did not play in any overtime. George’s work was done before the second overtime.
“Honestly, it was just as far as they had,” the nurse said.
After the game, Embiid said his knee felt good.
“I thought the first half was pretty good,” Embiid said. “When it’s been almost a month and you’ve only had two court sessions, going up and down, it’s going to be tough.
“I’m just happy that I got a chance to play the game of basketball, push it and grow from there. … I don’t really judge myself based on falling shots. Tonight it was all about how I moved laterally, jumped and other things. Tonight was a good step in that direction.”
Edgecombe also said he was feeling good despite missing the last three games. andre drummondMeanwhile, he played six minutes in the first half before being forced off due to pain in his right knee. On Friday night, he played 11 minutes and left after suffering a knee strain. Brooklyn Nets,
Hawks Center kristaps porzingis Kept sitting out due to illness. Porzingis, who is still dealing with the side effects of health problems he suffered at the end of last season boston celticsunlikely to play on monday detroit,
