Sixers win back-and-forth affair against Trae Young-less Atlanta Hawks

Of course, the game had some intrigue. That’s the 76ers’ way.

The struggling Atlanta Hawks came into the Wells Fargo Center without two-time All-Star point guard Trae Young. They also were losers of four of their last five games.

Meanwhile, the Sixers had their full allotment of players on what is one of the league’s deepest rosters.

Despite that, they had their hands full before escaping with a 125-114 victory Friday night. The Sixers needed a late 15-0 run on a night when Joel Embiid finished with 38 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks to escape with the win. He remained in the game despite appearing to hurt his left knee in the fourth quarter.

“I would say probably a ‘C,’” reserve Kelly Oubre Jr. said of the Sixers’ defensive effort. “We’re much better than that. This Hawks team was undermanned with not having Trae. So I think we kind of have this things where we — I would even say — every team in the NBA is good. But we don’t bring that same attentiveness as if we’re playing somebody else and it has nothing to say that — that’s within us, right?

“It’s not within anybody else and we just have to come locked in and focus every night.”

The victory improved the Sixers to 14-7 on the season and marked their third straight home win after losing the previous three. Meanwhile, the Hawks (9-12) have now lost five of six and eight of their last 11 games.

In addition to Young (illness), Atlanta was minus Jalen Johnson (fractured left distal radius) and Mouhamed Gueye (stress fracture in right lower back).

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Embiid made 12 of 24 shots and 13 of 15 free throws. Tyrese Maxey had 30 points and seven assists. Tobias Harris snapped out of his shooting slump with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting. De’Anthony Melton (15 points) and Oubre (11 points) were the Sixers’ other double-figurer scorers.

West Philly native De’Andre Hunter paced the Hawks with 24 points.

The Sixers blew a 14-point second-quarter lead thanks to an inability to make stops and costly turnovers. They battled back from a nine-point third-quarter deficit before seeing the lead seesaw.

While in pain, Embiid hit a pair of foul shots with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left to knot the score, 109-109. Melton then scored on a breakaway layup to give the Sixers a two-point advantage 16 seconds later. Embiid’s 18-foot turnaround jumper gave the Sixers a 113-109 lead at the 2:31 mark. He added two more foul shots before Maxey drained a three-pointer. Melton added a foul shot and a dunk to cap the Sixers’ 15-0 run to make it a 121-109 game with 55.1 seconds left.

“I just twisted it,” Embiid said of his knee. “So we are going to talk about it and see how it feels. But I don’t know. I should be fine.”

Embiid was coming off Wednesday night’s 50-point, 13-rebound, and seven-assist performance against the Washington Wizards.

With his wife and son in the front row during the first half, Embiid continued where he left off.

The reigning MVP scored the game’s first two baskets and went on to score six of the Sixers’ first eight and nine of their first 14 points. His dominance didn’t stop him from making eye contact and smiling at his son, Arthur, during breaks in the action.

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Embiid finished the first quarter with 17 points and seven rebounds. He made 6 of 11 shots and 4 of 5 foul shots while playing the entire period.

Embiid checked back in with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left in the half. However, he missed all three attempts and was held scoreless in the second quarter.

The 7-foot, 280-pounder added 13 points in the third quarter. He added eight fourth-quarter points despite appearing to injure his knee under the basket during the period.

Reserve center Mo Bamba was on the floor at the start of the fourth quarter in place of Paul Reed. Bamba finished with no points on 0-for-1 shooting along with three rebounds an offensive foul before Embiid came back into the game with 6:41 to play. Reed had two points on 1-for-2 shooting along with four rebounds, but had three turnovers in 6:02.

“Well, I just didn’t like the second quarter start,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “I didn’t like any of the second quarter actually. … I thought we had a really good vibe in the game, and the vibe flipped at the start of the second. So I made a couple of different changes to who came out in the fourth.”

Bamba, a solid rim protector, provided an intimidating defensive presence the Sixers didn’t have in the second quarter. He also kept the Hawks off the offensive glass.

“They were killing us,” Bamba said. “I think they had 10 offensive rebounds at the half. And again, I was just watching the flow of the game. When I got in there, I just told myself, ‘Limit as many offensive rebounds as possible.’ I gave up one. But there’s still work to be done.”

Nurse was pleased with his effort that led to him quietly impacting the game after coming in cold.

“He came really close to making a couple really good plays,” Nurse said. “but he went in there and grabbed three rebounds in five minutes. Again, I thought what I saw on the second was they just put their heads down, went to the front of the rim, boom, boom, boom, about six straight times. I thought maybe we need a little more appearance of some rim protection or some protection, right? Either one, but no, he did a good job.”

The belief was Hawks would be at a huge disadvantage without Young.

The sixth-year veteran averaged 32.5 points and 9.9 assists and shot 41.4% on three-pointers in the last eight games. And he’s had some of his better games against the Sixers, averaging 25.1 points and 10.4 assists in 16 career matchups.

Without him, the Hawks went with a starting backcourt of Dejounte Murray (20 points, nine assists) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (20 points, nine rebounds).

Eagles head of security Dom DiSandro was seated in front-row floor seats behind the basket near the Hawks bench. DiSandro, who went viral after his altercation with 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw on Sunday night, was cheered from the crowd while being introduced on the Jumbotron.

The Sixers are off until Monday, when they entertain the struggling Wizards for the second time in three games. They won, 131-126, on Wednesday in Washington.