March 8, 2026, 11:11 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> were off to a fantastic start on Saturday night at State Farm Arena. They shot 62.5% from the floor in the first half and led the Atlanta Hawks 73-66 as the Sixers got off to a great start when considering everything that was on the line in terms of the standings.<\/p>\n However, once again, the third quarter was an issue. The Hawks jumped out of the half on a 13-4 run on their way to outscoring the Sixers 31-21 in the third. They turned a 7-point deficit into a 3-point lead going into the fourth. Atlanta then won the fourth 28-22 and earned a 125-116 win over the Sixers<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I just told the guys that they competed their butts off all the way through,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters after the loss. “Again, I think the start of the second half, again, I thought we moved the ball, executed, got great shots, and just went a little bit dry on really good execution and good shots. I think one turnover, first possession, other than that, about the next six were really good, but we didn’t have much to show for it. Maybe two points or four points. I think they went on 13-4 there. They, obviously, hit a 3 and an And-1 to start the half, too. So they got kind of a quick start and we didn’t.”<\/p>\n The Sixers shot 42.5% from the floor in the second half which led to 54.7% shooting from the floor overall on the night. That’s still a solid number, but they had a tough time handling Hawks All-Star Jalen Johnson as it led to a loss in a time when they need to stack wins in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race.<\/p>\n “Then it was just kind of, you know, it was close enough, you know, to have a chance there,” Nurse added. “We had a couple mistakes that we can’t have inbounding the ball, things like that, but for the most part, when I look at the numbers here, we shoot almost 55%. I think probably look at all the numbers, they’re pretty even all the way across the board, except for, I guess, they make 20 free throws to our 12, and we got probably four of those in consolation time at the end. So, that was probably the difference.”<\/p>\n