Sixers beat Hawks, 126-104, to continue push for East’s top seed

The 76ers now have nine games remaining in the regular season.

They’re battling with the Brooklyn Nets, and Milwaukee Bucks to a lesser degree, for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, a race that could come down to the final game.

Just don’t tell that to Doc Rivers.

The Sixers coach said before Friday night’s 126-104 victory over the Atlanta Hawks that he rarely does scoreboard watching.

“I mean, I didn’t know Milwaukee lost like that until this morning,” he said of the Bucks’ Thursday night loss to the Houston Rockets. “So I guess that would be a no in some ways. I didn’t even know they played last night.”

Rivers admitted that he does look when he’s not thinking about it. But paying attention to the scoreboard isn’t on the top of his mind.

“I’m more concerned about us,” he said. “Keep pushing us to get better, and I always think it would take care of itself.”

The Sixers improved to 42-21 with the victory at the Wells Fargo Center. They’re a half-game behind the Nets (43-21), who suffered a 128-109 defeat Friday at the hands of the visiting Portland Trail Blazers.

» READ MORE: The Sixers will face their real test when the NBA playoffs finally get started

Sixers reserve center Dwight Howard had 19 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks against his hometown team. The 35-year-old was hard to stop, finishing through traffic and getting and-ones.

“The last couple of weeks I have really been working on finishing in the paint in practice,” said Howard, a 17th-year veteran. “So all that hard work is paying off. I just want to continue to be aggressive in the paint, go back up strong, finish and force those guys to have to foul me.”

Reserve guard Matisse Thybulle had another solid game defending power forwards in the backup unit’s four-guard lineup. The second-year player finished with four steals to go with 10 points. This came after Thybulle blocked three shots Wednesday night.

Joel Embiid finished with 18 points and six rebounds. Tobias Harris also had 18 points, while Ben Simmons finished with 18 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Ten of his points came in the first quarter.

Embiid, Harris, and Simmons, along with the Sixers’ other starters, Danny Green and Seth Curry, sat out the fourth quarter.

Trae Young finished with a game-high 32 points for the Hawks (34-30).

The Sixers are off Saturday before back-to-back road games. They’ll face the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night at the AT&T Center before playing the Chicago Bulls on Monday night at the United Center.

Meanwhile, the third-place Bucks (39-24) will entertain the Nets in a key two-game series on Sunday and Tuesday at Fiserv Forum.

But as Rivers noted, his focus is on the Sixers and getting them prepared for the postseason. Simmons agreed with his coach.

“I mean, we can’t control what Brooklyn or Milwaukee do,” the All-Star point guard said. “We already played them. For us, it’s about controlling what we can do. And that’s winning games no matter who we play.”

The Sixers won all three games of their homestand, by an average of 32.3 points.

They posted a 121-90 victory over the undermanned Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday and Friday marked their second consecutive win over the undermanned Hawks. This one wasn’t quite as lopsided as Wednesday’s 127-83 blowout.

A lot of that had to do with guards Young and Tony Snell returning to Atlanta’s starting lineup.

Young had been sidelined the previous four games with a left ankle sprain. Snell (right ankle sprain) missed 10 games.

The Hawks were still without Bogdan Bogdanovic (left hamstring soreness), Kevin Huerter (left shoulder sprain), former Friends’ Central School standout De’Andre Hunter (right knee soreness) and former Westtown School standout Cam Reddish (right Achilles soreness).

Missing that many players, the Hawks never had a chance on Wednesday night.

But on Friday, they jumped out to 13-2 and 17-6 advantages. The Sixers responded with a 21-9 run to take a 27-26 lead 56 seconds into the second quarter.

Philly went on to build a 21-point cushion (65-44) with 6 seconds left before intermission.

The Hawks’ frustration was evident in the second half.

Hawks interim coach Nate McMillan was called for a technical foul for yelling when there was a no offensive foul called on Embiid on a screen with 7:25 left in the third quarter. Then 28 seconds later, Solomon Hill was called for a technical foul for yelling after being fouled by Simmons.

The Sixers led by as many as 27 points (81-54) in the third quarter.

With 5:54 left, Atlanta’s Kris Dunn and the Sixers’ Shake Milton received double-technical fouls after Dunn appeared to kick Milton in the face while battling for the ball. Milton took exception and got in Dunn’s face.