Hawks at 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers are still trying to find their consistency on the road but winning at home has not been a problem this season. The 76ers will try to defend their NBA-best home record when they host the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.
Philadelphia came out of the All-Star break with a 112-104 overtime triumph at home over Brooklyn on Thursday but had to go on the road Saturday and was not up to the task against the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks, dropping a 119-98 decision to fall to 9-20 away from home. "I don't accept that at all," 76ers coach Brett Brown told reporters of the idea that his team is not very good on the road. "As I said before, it's a house built on sand otherwise. You've got to conquer your miseries of what is going on on the road. As far as looking into this game too much, I will not. And none of us is going to overreact." Atlanta has similar issues on the road at 6-24 but is hoping to carry some of the momentum gained from two wins over playoff contenders at home coming out of the break into the one-game stop at Philadelphia. The Hawks knocked off Miami 129-124 behind 50 points from All-Star point guard Trae Young on Thursday and got a monster performance from forward John Collins in Saturday's 111-107 triumph over the Dallas Mavericks.
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: NBA TV, FS Southeast, NBCS Philadelphia, Sportsnet One
ABOUT THE HAWKS (17-41): Atlanta is trying to build around Young and Collins and continues to get encouraging performances from the duo, with Collins matching his career high of 35 points while going 13-of-18 from the floor and adding 17 rebounds on Saturday. "I feel I definitely took advantage of the mismatches I had tonight," Collins told reporters. "...I can crash the glass really well, so I took advantage of that and made the most out of it." Young followed up his career-high 50 points with 25 points and 10 assists against Dallas, coming alive in the fourth quarter to help the Hawks overcome a nine-point deficit beginning the frame.
ABOUT THE 76ERS (35-22): All-Star point guard Ben Simmons sat out the first game after the break with lower back tightness and left Saturday's contest with the same ailment, prompting the team to send him for an MRI. Simmons, who averages 16.9 points, 8.3 assists and 7.9 rebounds, managed five points in as many minutes against Milwaukee and is considered day-to-day. Philadelphia added veteran shooting guard Alec Burks in a trade from the Golden State Warriors at the deadline and gave him some of the ballhandling duties off the bench Saturday while experimenting with fellow shooting guards Josh Richardson and Shake Milton handling the ball as well.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hawks SG Kevin Huerter was held to three points on 1-of-11 shooting Saturday, snapping a streak of nine straight games scoring in double figures.
2. 76ers PF Al Horford totaled nine points on 3-of-12 shooting - 1-of-8 from beyond the arc - while coming off the bench in the last two contests.
3. The teams split two meetings this season - both in Atlanta - and the Hawks took four of the last five overall.