Perk Valley picks up first win of season
PHILADELPHIA >> Dwight Howard had 22 points and 20 rebounds to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 9992 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.
The Hawks have won two straight following a seven-game losing streak that stunted their push in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. Atlanta is still in the fight for a fifth seed with Milwaukee, Indiana and Miami.
Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kent Bazemore each scored 19 points for the Hawks.
Richaun Holmes led the Sixers with 25 points and Dario Saric had 15. Saric was only 5 of 18 from the floor, but remains the leading contender for NBA Rookie of the Year.
The Hawks led by as many as
11 points, but struggled to put the Sixers away.
Nicknamed “Simba,” Justin Anderson had the Sixers fans roaring when his monster dunk cut it to 83-81. He converted a three-point play that pulled the Sixers within four and kept alive the hope they could knock off playoff-bound Atlanta.
The short-handed Sixers (they had only eight players) had the verve but not the talented depth to do much more than keep it close down the stretch.
Howard, shooting 53 percent from the line, extended Atlanta’s lead from the line and he grabbed his 20th rebound with about 48 seconds left to help seal the win. Howard actually shot 6 of 7 from the line and was 8 of 17 from the floor.
TIP-INS
Hawks: The Hawks went 4-0 against the Sixers this season and have won seven straight against them overall. Atlanta swept the Sixers for the seventh time in franchise history . ... Howard has 10-plus rebounds in 17 straight games.
Sixers: Missed 14 of 20 3s in the first half . ... Jahlil Okafor (right knee) and Robert Covington (right knee) sat out . ... Coach Brett Brown stormed out to midcourt to argue with the refs and was hit with a technical.
GOOD EFFORT
A season after the Sixers won 10 games, they’ve reached their highest win total in Brown’s four seasons. Joel Embiid’s rookie season was cut short with injuries and No. 1 overall draft pick Ben Simmons never played because of a broken foot. Brown said the Sixers have “fought in a higher weight class all year,” and smart moves in the draft and free agency could raise expectations.
“There’s not anybody that you say had a rough year this year. Not any of them,” he said. “That collective stuff trumps individual stuff and we have exceeded expectations and have milked and squeezed everything possible out of this group. I’m enamored with these guys. I respect them. I enjoy coaching them.”
He added, “This group has exceeded expectations all over the place. We will reap the benefit of that spirit and attitude and that excitement with a very, very calculated disciplined summer.”