In a way, heading into Game 7 tied 3-3, the Hawks-76ers slate gets wiped clean.
It comes down to one game, with the teams on even footing, aside from the No. 1-seed 76ers having home-court advantage over the No. 5-seed Hawks.
“To be honest, I don’t think any of it matters,” Hawks guard Trae Young said about the previous games in the Eastern Conference semifinal series, after the Hawks’ 104-99 loss Friday at State Farm Arena. “It’s one game. They came in and took care of business to try to force a Game 7, and all the other games don’t mean anything. This is one game. Both teams are in a win-or-go-home situation.”
In another way, looking at the track record makes sense — and the Hawks have a pretty good one in Philadelphia. They’ve gone 2-1 on the road in this series, and went 2-1 on the road in their first-round series vs. the Knicks, as well.
They’re confident they can get another win at Wells Fargo Center in Game 7, which would send them to the Eastern Conference finals. Game 7 is scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday.
“You have to look at that, the fact that we have won there twice in this series,” interim coach Nate McMillan said. “So you should feel confident that you can win in that building. We’ve done well, I would say, in the playoffs on the road. And I think we feel we have to play with confidence on the road, and as Trae mentioned, it’s a one-game series now. And the pressure’s on both teams. So we’re confident we can go up and win this game and continue to believe that we have an opportunity.”
This has certainly been an up-and-down series for the Hawks, who entered by far the underdogs, but haven’t looked it against the top team in the Eastern Conference. They made a franchise playoff-record 20 3-pointers in Game 1′s win, but have struggled shooting the ball since then. They looked beaten down in back-to-back blowout losses in games 2 and 3, then shocked the 76ers with two double-digit comebacks in games 4 and 5.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Young has been sensational, averaging 30.3 points, 11 assists and two steals per game, but he didn’t get enough help from the supporting cast in Game 6 on Friday. Another rough shooting night as a team, settling for quick shots in the second half, and giving up a 14-0 run to start the fourth quarter did the Hawks in.
Up 3-2 in the series, they missed out on a golden chance to close it at home. Heading back to Philly, though, the Hawks are still confident they’re in a good spot.
“We’ve won twice there already,” wing Kevin Huerter said. “This would have been a really good opportunity for us to win at home and close this thing out, but we’ve got to lick our wounds a little bit, stand back up and go win Game 7 on the road.”
Several key players on the team, including Young, Huerter, John Collins, and Bogdan Bogdanovic (who exited Game 6 with right knee soreness) hadn’t been in the NBA playoffs, so this obviously will be their first time in a high-intensity elimination game on the road. On Saturday, McMillan said Bogdanovic’s knee was sore and he was receiving treatment, but it was too soon to know his status for Game 7.
The Hawks have been in this position before (somewhat), McMillan pointed out, as they closed their first-round series vs. the Knicks on the road. But it’s also different, as the Hawks entered Game 5 in New York up 3-1, already having earned two more chances to close the series, had they lost that game.
“It was a similar situation in the New York series where we had to go out on the road. We ended up winning that game and closing that series in New York,” McMillan said. “I think we’re very capable of doing that. So we’ve been in that situation before. But it’s win or go home. We know exactly where we are. I expect our guys to be ready to play. Not a lot needs to be said about the game. We’ve just got to take care of business.”
Throughout the playoffs, the Hawks have embraced an underdog role. They’ve already drastically exceeded expectations, having crushed their goal of simply making the playoffs this season, one year after going 20-47.
That has taken away some of the pressure, Huerter pointed out, as young players get acclimated to the postseason. And they enter Game 7 with their confidence high, believing they can get to the conference finals.
“There’s a lot of belief in our locker room,” Huerter said. “There’s not a lot of belief in us outside of our locker room. For us, it doesn’t really matter, I don’t think we pay attention to it too much, to be honest. But we know what the narrative is out there. Nobody expects us to win, and it’s a lot easier to play with no pressure, I’ll say that. In a lot of ways this whole postseason, it’s felt like we’ve played with house money.
“This is really our first, obviously a lot of guys’ first postseason and guys just kind of getting their feet wet, hopefully, in making playoff runs. So we’re still in a good spot, I think, and our confidence is really high. (Friday) was a really good opportunity we could have won, but Game 7 is anybody’s, and we’ve got to go in there with the same confidence and believing we can win, and I expect nothing else.”
About the Author
