Sixers fall to Atlanta Hawks in overtime, extending a three-game losing streak

ATLANTA – It was a battle of wounded teams Wednesday night inside State Farm Arena.

The 76ers came to Atlanta without reigning MVP Joel Embiid and key reserve Robert Covington. Meanwhile, the Hawks were without starters De’Andre Hunter and Clint Capela and six injured players in total.

But in the end, the Hawks available players outlasted the Sixers available ones, 139-132, in overtime to snap a two-game losing streak.

The loss dropped the Sixers to 23-13, extending their losing streak to a season-worst three games. It also made them 2-7 in games without Embiid.

Meanwhile, the Hawks improved to 15-21.

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Trae Young paced the Hawks with 28 points and 11 assists.

Despite the loss, Tobias Harris looked good while returning after missing Saturday’s loss to the Utah Jazz with a jammed ankle.

Harris finished with 32 points and 10 rebounds while posting up down low and initiating the offense from the nail.

Tyrese Maxey had 35 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds for the Sixers before fouling out with a minute, 44 seconds left in overtime.

Marcus Morris finished with 17 points. The North Philly native scored 13 of his points in the first half.

Maxey’s dunk with a minute, 30 seconds remaining gave the Sixers a 122-121 lead. Thirty-six seconds later, he buried a three-pointer to put the Sixers up four.

However, the Hawks closed the gap to one point on a three-point play. And with 12.6 seconds left, Maxey fouled Young on his way to the basket.

Young split to the foul shots to knot the score. Maxey lost the ball on the Sixers final possession, giving the Hawks the ball with 1.0 left. Young missed a 56-foot attempt as the game went to overtime.

In overtime, the Hawks took a 135-132 lead on Jalen Johnson’s wide-open three-pointer with 39.6 seconds left.

This was the second consecutive game Embiid missed with left knee soreness. Meanwhile, it was the fourth game that reserve forward Covington missed with the same ailment.

De’Anthony Melton (back) joined Harris as Sixers who returned after being sidelined with injuries. Harris and Melton were joined by Nic Batum, Paul Reed, and Maxey.

Coach Nick Nurse said Embiid is progressing well, and he hopes the reigning MVP returns Friday night against the Sacramento Kings.

“We’re still kind of going day-to-day,” Nurse said. “... We thought he was close to making this trip and playing today. So I would assume a few more days should get us even closer.

Nurse said the holdup is just a combination of making sure Embiid is good and can handle the ramp up process.

“Make sure that doesn’t cause some more pain or swelling,” he added.

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Embiid and Covington both did on-court workouts Wednesday at the Sixers practice facility.

“He’s got a knee that continues to swell, then it goes down and you think it’s OK,” Nurse said of Covington. “Then he goes through the workout and had some more swelling. But [Wednesday], it did not. So he got his workout in and the swelling seems to be under control.”

Covington is listed day-to-day like Embiid.

This marked the ninth game of the season that Embiid has missed because of injuries, illness, and rest.

According to the new collective bargaining agreement, players are required to participate in a minimum of 65 games to be eligible for the NBA’s regular-season awards — including the MVP. As a result, Embiid can miss only eight of the Sixers’ remaining games to be eligible to win his second straight MVP.

Meanwhile, the Hawks were without Capela (right achillies soreness), Mouhamed Gueye (lower back stress fracture), Philly native Hunter (right knee inflammation), Vit Krejci (left shoulder subluxation), Garrison Matthews (left ankle sprain), and Wesley Matthews (right calf soreness).

The Sixers will travel back home and practice Thursday before hosting the Kings Friday at Wells Fargo Center.

The Kings took a 22-14 record into Wednesday’s road game against the Charlotte Hornets. They were looking to win for the fourth time in five games.

Sacramento All-Star Domantas Sabonis averaged 20.1 points and a league-best 12.8 rebounds through the Kings’ first 36 games. Meanwhile, All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox averaged a career-best 28.2 points along with 5.9 assists and 1.6 steals. This game will mark the first time Bobby Jackson faces his former organization. Jackson spent the past two seasons as the head coach of the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s NBA G-League affiliate.

Before that, he spent the past three seasons and five total on Sacramento’s coaching staff. Jackson, a former guard, also had two playing stints with the Kings.