Sixers Lose To The Hawks, 124-101
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Josh Smith had 28 points and 12 rebounds, John Jenkins added 21 points and the Atlanta Hawks blitzed the Philadelphia 76ers 124-101 on Wednesday night.
Mike Scott contributed 17, Al Horford had 16 and Jeff Teague 13 for the Hawks, who snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 43-36.
The Hawks pulled into a tie with the Chicago Bulls for fifth place in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. The Hawks recently clinched their sixth straight playoff berth but were coming off losses to the Sixers, New York Knicks and San Antonio.
Thaddeus Young led the reeling Sixers with 28 points, while Nick Young had 19 off the bench.
Dorell Wright contributed 15 points and Jrue Holiday had 12 but continued to struggle with his shot, going 4 for 14.
Holiday was 17 for 65 in the past four games against Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami and Brooklyn.
Philadelphia lost its third straight game to fall to 31-47.
After going ahead 59-51 at halftime, the Hawks continued playing at a high level in the third quarter. An 18-6 run pushed their advantage to 77-57 and they cruised the rest of the game.
This was a much different result for the Sixers than five days ago in Atlanta, when they defeated the Hawks 101-90.
Thaddeus Young was sensational in the first half with 22 points on 11-of-16 shooting. It was the most points scored in a half by any Philadelphia player this season.
But the rest of the Sixers shot 8 of 34 in the first half.
The Hawks shot 50 percent from the field and knocked down all 10 of their free throws to take a 59-51 lead into the locker room.
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