With a 103-96 win in Game 7 on Sunday over the top-seeded 76ers, the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference finals and started summer vacation earlier than expected for Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and the rest of his teammates.
In addition to winning Game 7 on the road, the Hawks also won Game 1 and Game 5 in Philadelphia in the best-of-seven series and ultimately had the answer for containing Embiid, who was one of the finalists for NBA MVP this season.
John Collins — who was partially responsible for keeping Embiid in check — sat down for an interview following the big win wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of himself dunking on Philadelphia’s star center from earlier in the series.
For Philadelphia, the loss simply opens up questions, as it appears the “Trust the Process” movement has ultimately been a bust. At the top of the list of questions is what the fate of Ben Simmons, who has regressed as an offensive player and is a liability at the end of games because he can’t hit free throws, will be moving forward.
Simmons, who has four seasons and $146.6 million left on his contract, averaged 9.9 points, 8.6 assists and 6.3 rebounds against the Hawks but shot 33% (15-for-45) from the foul line.
“I don’t know the answer to that right now,” Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers said when asked if Simmons can be a point guard for a championship team. “Obviously, he struggled from the free-throw line, and that became a factor in the series, there’s no doubt about that.”
With Simmons and Embiid as the nucleus of the team, Philadelphia has failed to reach the conference finals in four straight seasons, losing in the conference semifinals in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and falling in the first round last season.
Now set to take on the Milwaukee Bucks with a shot to go to the NBA Finals on the line, the Hawks are the first NBA team to make the conference finals without an All-Star on the roster since the 1994 Indiana Pacers.
Heavy underdogs against the 76ers, the Hawks will also be big ‘dogs against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks as they play in their second conference finals in the past 50 years.
“The confidence is gonna remain the same,” Trae Young, who shot poorly in Game 7 and will need to be better against the Bucks, said. “Everybody is happy we made it to the Eastern Conference finals, but we’re not satisfied. It’s great that we’re here, but we have some games to win.”
The East finals start on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
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