Sixers Get MORE Good News Despite CONTROVERSIAL Loss To Atlanta Hawks | 76ers News & Rumors

Sixers Get MORE Good News Despite CONTROVERSIAL Loss To Atlanta Hawks | 76ers News & Rumors

[Music] The Sixers lost in controversial fashion to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, but could that game be the turning point of the season for Philadelphia? See, there’s a lot of good to take away from that game despite the tough loss in a game where Philadelphia really should have won. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me walk you through what happened at the end of this game. And look, I’m not going to say it’s a sole reason the Sixers lost this one, but it kind of does feel like one got stolen that they did have in their hands. So, here is that situation before we get into all the good that happened. Let’s talk about this ridiculous ending. You see the situation right here. Sixers down one point, 118 117 with just over two seconds left to play. You’ll take a look right here. Nquille Alexander Walker of the Hawks being guarded by VJ Edgecomb running towards half court looking to get the inbounds pass. Right. Atlanta is passing this ball in right now. So the clock is not running. They’re waiting to inbound the ball. Then what we see here in this next slide, the ball gets inbounded to Nquille Alexander Walker. And you see with the red line with the red circle I have Alexander Walker has the ball in his possession with one foot down in the front court. Then moving to the next sequence of this play, he takes a second step with the ball still in his hand. And yes, his momentum is carrying him towards the half court line, but this is now the second step Alexander Walker has taken with a ball in his possession in the front court. And because his momentum is carrying him, he goes beyond the half court line after taking two full steps with the ball in the front court. What I think should have been a backcourt violation. And many Sixers fans and the Sixers players and Nick Nurse, the coach, were very upset in the moment and after the game that this was not called a backcourt violation on the Atlanta Hawks, which would have given the Sixers the ball, down by one with two and a half seconds left. Instead, they end up calling the foul on VG Edgecom for fouling him in the back court. That call is not made. Sixers end up losing. Now, there was a sequence earlier with a a play Nick Nur shoulder called a timeout. So, again, not the sole reason they lost. I could have won this game otherwise, but man, you get the ball back down one with two and a half seconds to play. And I saw some people trying to say, “Oh, well, there was a foul on V. Jedgecomb before Alexander Walker got into the back court. That’s why that wasn’t called.” That’s not because you see right here, Alexander Walker is in the back court right now with 1.9 seconds on the clock. But when he goes to shoot the free throws, you’ll notice there’s one and a half seconds left on the clock. So, the foul came after he was already in the back court. Look, we can argue about it and discuss it. The NBA ref on on Twitter and the referees in the last two minute report from the NBA come out and said it wasn’t a back court because his momentum was carrying him, but he had established himself in my opinion in the front court by taking those two steps. So, I think the Sixers kind of got screwed on that one. But again, there are still a lot of good to take away from this game. It’s just one loss at the end of the day. But before we get into all the good, if you feel like me, if if you think the Sixers got screwed in that one by the referees, spam BS down in the comments section because, man, I really do feel strongly that was a backcourt violation on Atlanta. Should have been called. It was not. So, the Sixers lose. Definitely would have had an opportunity to win that game if what I think the correct call is was made. But let’s get now into some of this good news and why I think there’s a chance we could look back on this one and say, man, that kind of was a turning point even though they lost for Philadelphia. Starting with Paul George, he had his best performance as a Sixer easily. And it not just this year, going back to last year and his entire time in a Sixers uniform, yesterday on Sunday against Atlanta was Paul George’s best full game as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. Look, the 35 points obviously you’re going to look at that and that’s a standout and it was really all night long. 7 to 10 from three as you see there 11 to 21 from the field. He was hitting timely shots in a close game when the Sixers needed him the most. I’m not going to say it was full vintage Paul George where you know he’s crossing dudes over with a tight handle. Although he, you know, he was able to get to his spots, get through the paint, not necessarily get by guys, but kind of use his body and use his positioning in a way where he was able to get shots up near the rim. And then, of course, you’re hitting seven of your 10 threes. That is phenomenal, right? And this is the kind of player and the kind of Paul George that Sixers fans had been hoping to see really for quite a while now. So, offensively, he was great. his best offensive performance again as a member of the 76ers. But it’s not just offensively where he’s making making his impact. Felt obviously was great in that game and you hope that is signs to come on the offensive side of the ball. But where Paul George has really made a big impact this season since he’s come back from injury is on the defensive side of the ball. You take a look at the defensive rating here for the 76ers when Paul George is on the floor and when he is not. When PG is on the floor for Philadelphia, the Sixers have a 105.5 defensive rating. That would be second best in the NBA if you extrapolate that across an entire game behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder. When he’s not on the floor, it drops almost a full 11 points, which the lower the defensive rating, the better it is. So, a higher number here without Paul George means their defense is worse when he’s not on the floor. That would be 17th in the NBA. So clearly Paul George is making a big impact on this team defensively. You can look at numbers like this and see that. But I think just watching the games right you can see that he’s bringing the tenacity on defense. He’s probably the Sixers best perimeter defender at this point just staying in front of guys making plays defensively like getting in passing lanes just being a solid presence out there for Philadelphia. He has been a huge addition really his entire time since he’s been back on that side of the ball and then last night especially we really saw the offense start to click as well. So when you look at his numbers now for the entire season putting together a pretty good year is Paula George over 17 points shooting 43.3% from three. Again a little bit closer to the guy the kind of guy we thought we were getting when the Sixers signed him. And look, Paul George had that game, had a good night, and kind of clap back a little bit at the haters. Obviously, a lot of people have been saying, “Oh, Paul George is washed and this and that.” You know, myself included. I’m not going to say I’m a part of from these, you know, from these allegations and and from this criticism, but I think it’s fair criticism to look at what Paul George has done in the past and say that he’s not the same player he was. But man, he was talking talking his stuff. He says, “I mean, prior to coming here, I was coming off one of my most efficient seasons. That’s why I was so excited to get Paul George allstar that year with the Clippers. I didn’t see myself being watched that fast, but I knew I know this league is about what you can do now and they tend to forget everything that I have done. So, it was a bit of motivation going into the summer to just get healthy and let everything else take care of itself. Obviously, you know, it’s just one game. Now, he’s had other good games since he’s been back, but this is the first real offensive explosion he has had. you want to see him keep doing this. But if he does, then we can, you know, say we’ll eat our words and maybe Paula George is back. I’ll say this, if the Sixers can get this version of Paula George, which obviously I’m rooting for, all their Sixers fans should be rooting for, you want him to be the player that you paid him that big max contract to a couple of seasons ago. Really does change a lot of things for this Sixers team. If he can carry a little bit more of an offensive burden, now I don’t expect 35 points every single night from Paul George. And the Sixers don’t need him to be putting up 35 points every single night. There was no Tyresese Maxi last night, so obviously some more shots to go around, but if he can be that efficient and make this kind of impact on the defensive side of the ball, man, this Sixers team can be better than I think a lot of people think. You know, I’ve seen within Sixers Twitter, I think some people do realize that this team with how weak the Eastern Conference is especially does have a chance. But I don’t think a lot of people outside of the Philadelphia fandom realize that, you know, Philadelphia does have a shot this year to potentially do something kind of special if these pieces can all click. Now, last year the pieces didn’t click, but they’re kind of starting to feel like they are at all the right times. So, what say you? Is Paul George back after that huge performance on Sunday? Give me a Y for yes. Give me an N for no. Let me know what you think down in the comments. And Paul George’s return over the past few weeks here has kind of coincided with this big defensive resurgence and this focus for Philadelphia on the defensive side of the ball. You see over the last two weeks, the Sixers fifth in the NBA in point differential, 15th in offensive rating. Pretty average. I would like to see them be a little bit better there. You know, Jared McCain has kind of been really inconsistent. Obviously, Tyrese Maxi missed the last couple of games. That’s going to change things. But the Sixers are second in defensive rating behind, of course, only the Oklahoma City Thunder over the last two weeks. That’s big because to start the season, if you remember, Sixers did start off strong. Obviously had that 4-0 start and the offense was absolutely humming, but the defense was bad, man. Teams are putting up points. guys were getting to the basket as well. At will, I should say. And even as most recently as a couple of weeks ago, this was still a big issue. But over the last couple of weeks, really since the start of December, the Sixers have been kind of clamping. And so, can this be the Sixers identity? I think one of the things with this team is they haven’t really found a true identity yet on either side of the ball. They kind of just been going through the motions, an average team here and there. Can they start to hang their hat on the defensive side of the ball? because Joel Embiid’s turning it up a little bit as well on that end. We’ll get to that here in a second. But with how good Paul George has been, you know, someone like Quinton Grimes a good defender as VJ Edgecom becomes more comfortable. We’re seeing Tyrese Maxis best defensive year of his career. And then you some other players in the margins that are helping out as well. Can the Sixers be this team that really hangs their hat on that side of the ball? If you can, that’ll really help you in a lot of games, especially come playoff time. But man, shout out to Paul George for that big night. Hopefully he can keep it up. Now, coming up next, a major Joel Embiid development that I did just tease that has to do not so much with his play, but some injury notes. And a lot of people might not have realized this heading into that game on Sunday against Atlanta. Real quick before we do get to that, have a great new deal I want to tell you guys about. You know, it’s the holiday times approaching Christmas and obviously people are looking for gifts to give yourself, give a loved one. these Sixers new city edition pullovers, little kind of quarterzip action pullover, a Nike dry fit material as well. So, it’s great material, a great product to own. Usually pretty pricey, $80, but you can get this item right now for just $60. That is $20 off if you go to chatsports.com/citypullover and use the code holiday at checkout. Again, that’s chatports.com/citypullover. Use the code holiday at checkout.out. That deal isn’t going to last forever, though. So, go take advantage while you still can and get a good deal on a pretty sick item. I’ll put that link down in the comments and description of today’s show for you guys to make it real easy. So, that Joel Embiid development for the first time all year. Let me say that again. The first time all year, Joel Embiid played on just a single day of rest. Up until this point in the season, the Sixers had never let Joel Embiid play two games in three days. The plan had always been to allow Embiid to have at least two days of rest in between games. That’s why even when the Sixers, you know, didn’t have it back toback, but they played on a Monday and a Wednesday, he wouldn’t play both of those because he needed two days of rest between games with his knees and obviously, you know, the injuries. But he played last Friday and then he played on Sunday against Atlanta. The first time all year he’s played two games in three days. That’s a big development. And not only did he play, but he looked pretty good. And I would dare say he was moving around the best I have seen him move all year long against Atlanta. 22 points, 14 rebounds. Much of the year beats not been able to really box out, go up and grab rebounds. He’s been hovering around five, six rebounds every single game. This one, he went out there, he made a concerted effort to hit the boards, especially the offensive glass. And you know, the shots still waiting to fall a little bit of a higher clip. That’ll come. But seeing him play with the effort, seeing him play with the intensity on the defensive side of the ball as well, he overall just looked active out there. And I think that’s the most important thing right now, especially when you consider this is the first time he played two games in three nights. He was out there. He looked active. He looked like he was moving well. He even took a scary fall where he kind of rolled his ankle a little bit, but he bounced back from that. So, very good signs to see. Now, of course, the past week or so has been kind of weird. Sixers had a long time off because of the NBA Cup and Philadelphia actually doesn’t play again for a little while. So, maybe that had to factor in, but maybe now, you know, minutes restrictions starting to lift a little bit, starting to get out there more on the floor. We’re seeing Paul George come into the fold and play better. Embiid come to the fold and play better. Of course, Maxi’s out right now with an illness, but he’ll be back soon. All of a sudden, this Sixers thing, man, it could be looking pretty dangerous for the rest of the Eastern Conference. Of course, it be talked about how he felt after that game. It’s very important to monitor how he feels. First time playing two games in three nights and I feel okay. Feel a little tired out there, but I’ll take it. I came out pretty good either way, so I’ll take it. And obviously would have felt better if we got the win. That didn’t happen, but see how it feels tomorrow. It was a good thing. Haven’t heard from Embiid in terms of how he’s feeling right now, but haven’t heard that he’s feeling bad either. So, I guess that could be a good thing. Of course, as I did just mention, Philadelphia doesn’t play again until Friday. So, again, that could have factored in to this decision. No idea if this is going to be the new normal or not. If Abid can keep playing two games in three nights, but with some time off, again, he’ll have time to recover, rest the body, and they can determine a plan from there. That’s why this kind of stretch right here was so important and why this could kind of be this turning point like I mentioned off the top. Before we get out of here, I also want to give a quick shout out to VJ Edgecom who really does deserve his flowers for what he did in that third quarter last night against Atlanta. There was a point in third quarter which VJcom played the entire thing where you had no Embiid, you had no Paul George, right? are still not playing a full minutes load. And you know, there was a point where this game could have got away from Philadelphia. Atlanta had a little bit of a lead, could have easily extended that lead and we know third quarters had been a nightmare for the Sixers. But VJ Edgecom again with no Tyresese Maxi took it upon himself to take over this game. And to have a rookie do that, especially someone who, you know, started off as good as you can start off for a rookie and then been tailing off a little bit. To see him have even a quarter like this and really a full game. Ended up with 26 points in the night is just phenomenal in that third quarter. 17 points, shooting five of seven from the field, knocking down three threes and all four of his free throws. Again, really keeping Philadelphia in this game and allowing them to have a chance to win even though they of course ultimately did not. I continue to love what I’m seeing out of VJ Edgecomb. Even if he does struggle from time to time from the field and the shooting percentages aren’t always great, finishing at the rim still a little bit of a problem and not quite where you want to be defensively. Of course, he’s still growing in that area. Just the confidence, the clutch play, always seeming to show up at the biggest of moments and responding when he does struggle like this. And he’s only what 20some games into his NBA career. Love what I’m seeing out of EJ Comb. Really more confident than ever that he’s going to be a star for the Sixers team at some point in the near future. Let’s end real quick with an updated look at the Eastern Conference standings. Now, if the Sixers had won that game would have been sitting pretty at 15 and 10, would have been in that four seed, which is where they were before that loss to Atlanta. Now, with that loss, they dropped to 14 and 11. So, in that seven seed, of course, really between three and nine right now. Things are very tight in the Eastern Conference. one or two games, you win those in a row, you can jump all the way up to number three or fall all the way down to number nine. So, you know, pretty tight here in the East. Big game against the Knicks coming up on Friday. That’s the next time the Sixers do play. Starting to get into the swing of things though here in the NBA season. A couple months in, players can now be traded. A lot of guys have had restrictions on when they could be traded. That was lifted today on December 15th. So, some trade talk is going to start to pick up. uh starting to get into, you know, the more exciting times of the NBA calendar if you are a Sixers fan. But, you know, for those diehard real ones out there, it’s been pretty exciting the entire season. That’ll do it for today’s show. Before we hop on out of here, if you want even more Sixers coverage than just what I’m giving you here on the show, be sure to give me a follow on social media on Instagram at 76ers Now IG and I’m on Twitter, Jake Chipper. [Music]

Sixers news & rumors after Philadelphia 76ers vs. Atlanta Hawks is filled with good news for Sixers fans despite the controversial loss. Paul George highlights were all the talk among 76ers fans as Paul George had his best game in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform against the Hawks. In promising Sixers injury news, Joel Embiid played for the first time after only having one day of rest this season. VJ Edgecombe highlights took over in the 3rd quarter against the Atlanta Hawks with Tyrese Maxey sidelined. Jake Chipper has the latest 76ers news, 76ers rumors & more on today’s Philadelphia 76ers YouTube video!

Chat it up with your fellow Sixers fans by answering today’s questions down in the comments section:
– If you think the refs screwed the Sixers… Spam ‘BS’
– Is Paul George back? Type ‘Y’ for Yes or ‘N’ for No

These NEW 76ers city edition half-zip pullovers were $80, but are now $60 when you use code: HOLIDAY at HTTP://CHATSPORTS.COM/CITYPULLOVER

Paul George stats vs. Hawks:
– 35 PTS, 3 AST, 4 REB, 11/21 FG, 7/10 3P

Enjoyed today’s episode? Find more Philadelphia 76ers YouTube videos below:
– 76ers Fans Got The News They Were Hoping For! + 76ers Injury Updates On Kelly Oubre, Trendon Watford – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JtWrvHh1Ik
– Sixers Trade Rumors On Kelly Oubre Jr. + THIS Is The 76ers Biggest Weakness – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZEHXW0eUhU
– Philadelphia 76ers News & Rumors: Sixers Season Recap Ft. Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwnWezuAGsA

Paul George:
“I mean, prior to coming here, I was coming off one of my most efficient seasons. All-Star that year. I didn’t see myself being washed that fast, but I knew. I knew that this league is about what you can do now, and they tend to forget everything that I have done. So, it was a bit of motivation going into the summer to just get healthy and kind of let everything else take care of itself.”

Want non-stop updates on your 76ers? Follow Jake Chipper on Twitter/X & Instagram:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeChipper
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Joel Embiid stats vs. Hawks:
– 22 PTS, 14 REB, 8/20 FG, 1/3 3P

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Philadelphia 76ers 2025-26 Roster:
– PG: Tyrese Maxey, Kyle Lowry
– SG: Quentin Grimes, Jared McCain, VJ Edgecombe, Eric Gordon
– SF: Paul George, Justin Edwards
– PF: Kelly Oubre Jr., Trendon Watford, Johni Broome
– C: Joel Embiid, Adem Bona, Andre Drummond

NBA Eastern Conference Standings:
1. Detroit Pistons (20-5)
2. New York Knicks (18-7)
3. Boston Celtics (15-10)
4. Orlando Magic (15-11)
5. Toronto Raptors (15-11)
6. Miami Heat (14-11)
7. Philadelphia 76ers (14-11)
8. Cleveland Cavaliers (15-12)
9. Atlanta Hawks (15-12)
10. Milwaukee Bucks (11-16)

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