The Philadelphia 76ers blew up yet another game which once looked like a comfortable win for Doc Rivers’ and his men. However, the Sixers blew up a 20 point lead at halftime to lose against the Atlanta Hawks in the very crucial Game 5. The Hawks courtesy of a superb final quarter came back in the game and eventually got the better of the Sixers and are now leading the Series 3-2. The game ended 109-106 and several experts were not happy with the Sixers and their performance in the second half.
NBA Analyst and Hall of Famer, Charles Barkley was furious with the kind of performance that the Sixers delivered in the second half. They had control of the game throughout and then they allowed the Hawks to score 40 points in the final quarter to take the game away. It is absolutely berserk that only Embiid and Seth Curry scored from the field in the second half for the Sixers. These are the questions that were also asked by Barkley.
On ‘Inside The NBA’, Barkley called this exactly what it was and said, “This was a complete choke job. You don’t give up 26 in a must-win game… First of all, you gave up 40 points in the last quarter. You should have been mad from the last game when you gave an 18 point lead. And then you come home, you play [indiscernible] you get a 26.”
Then Barkley took shots and Embiid and Simmons claimed they deserve DPOY awards. “They brag about how good they are defensively like, ‘I should be the defensive player of the year’. And I am like you gave up 40 at home in a playoff game, they just choked that away,” he concluded.
Being a former Sixers himself Barkley was very angry with the performance that they delivered in a crucial Game 5 encounter. The biggest problem for them has been Joel Embiid’s health. They need him to stay healthy throughout the stretch of the series to have any chance to progress further. Also, Ben Simmons who is one of their star players dropped only 8 points and only attempted four shots throughout the game out of which he made two. He was also atrocious from the free-throw line scoring only 4-14.
Hence the Sixers will have to get their act together if they want to pose any challenge to Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks.
