PHILADELPHIA -- Before the Hawks played the 76ers on Friday, coach Mike Woodson lectured his players about their problems maintaining comfortable leads late in games.
It turned out they didn’t need to worry about that. The big lead never materialized because the Sixers took it to the Hawks from the start and finished stronger while winning 105-98 at the Wachovia Center.
“I think from the start we just weren’t with it,” said Hawks center Al Horford. “I know it’s a long season, but games like this are unacceptable, especially at this time of year when we have something at stake.”
Philadelphia is near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings while the Hawks are angling for better position near the top. Yet the Sixers got the victory by outworking the Hawks and shredding their soft defense all night for easy points.
The Hawks lost their third consecutive road game and fifth in the past six, with their only victory at East bottom-dweller New Jersey. They missed a chance to match their season victory total of 47 from last season with 10 games to go.
“From time to time we come out with a lack of focus,” said Hawks guard Joe Johnson. “That team still plays hard. We didn’t show up. We acted like we could turn it on the fourth quarter.”
Instead, the Sixers used a 7-0 run that included five free throws and a dunk to put away the Hawks late.
“I feel like we overlooked them, and that’s not the right thing to do,” Horford said. “If you do that in this league any team can beat you.”
The Hawks trailed 87-80 when Johnson made a basket, Mike Bibby made a 3-pointer and Johnson followed with another 3-pointer for an 88-87 lead. The Hawks led 90-89 when Andre Iguodola scored the Philadelphia’s next eight points for a 96-92 Sixers lead.
Johnson’s 3-pointer got the Hawks within 96-95 with 2:43 to play, but the Hawks wouldn’t score again until 9.9 seconds remained. The Hawks overcame a late scoring drought to beat Southeast Division-leader Orlando on Wednesday but couldn’t do it against the Sixers.
”You always know after a big game like Orlando can’t have a letdown,” Hawks guard Jamal Crawford said. “We should have handled our business from the beginning and been done with it.”
The Sixers are one of the few teams that can match the Hawks’ athletic ability, especially in the frontcourt with Iguodola (25 points, 10 rebounds) and Samuel Dalembert (14 points). Philadelphia took advantage of the Hawks’ switching defense to attack the basket and also got into the open court for easy points.
Philadelphia scored 58 points in the paint and had 28 fast-break points while shooting 50 percent from the field. The Hawks didn’t help matters with 19 turnovers, their most since committing 18 on Jan. 6 against New Jersey.
The Sixers scored 30 points off turnovers, a season high for a Hawks opponent.
“Lots of self-inflicted [mistakes],” Crawford said. “They played harder than we did.”
The Hawks appeared ready to take control when Bibby’s 3-pointer staked them to a 58-52 lead in the third quarter. But the Sixers responded with a 10-0 run started by Iguodola’s 3-pointer.
Iguodola broke up an alley-oop pass from Marvin Williams to Josh Smith, then ran down and dunked Jason Kapono’s miss. Jrue Holiday stole a pass from Crawford, leading to a clear-path foul on Crawford and a made free throw by Holiday.
That sequence staked the Sixers to a 76-71 lead and they led 80-75 entering the fourth quarter.
“They played a great game, so give them credit,” Johnson said. “But mentally we just weren’t in the game.”
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