Coming off a solid and decisive victory over the abysmal Brooklyn Nets, hopefully the Thanksgiving malaise has fully worn off before the Philadelphia 76ers welcome a real team, the Atlanta Hawks, to town for the first of four meetings this season. Both teams have an extensive injury report heading into the game, so all eyes will be on Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Johnson, two players currently taking the league by storm.
The Sixers will be sporting their 2025-26 City Edition uniform for the first of only three times this season.
Who: Atlanta Hawks (12-8) at Philadelphia 76ers (10-8)
When: 6 p.m. EST
Where: XFinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, PA.
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBA League Pass, FanDuel Sports Network Southeast
The Sixers come into this game looking for a win that they can really hang their hat on as they head into a pretty favorable December schedule. Tyrese Maxey has continued his scintillating start to the season and will need to be the best player on the court Sunday night if the Sixers want to emerge victorious. Reinforcements could be on the way as VJ Edgecombe is currently listed as questionable to play after missing the last three games with a calf injury; Paul George also has no injury designation after returning to action this past Friday and is slated to play.
After suffering a right knee injury against the Nets on Friday, Andre Drummond received a very positive MRI report revealing no structural damage, and he will be questionable for tonight's game. Joel Embiid, initially ruled out, has been upgraded to questionable, and Adem Bona, who just returned from injury on Friday night, is thankfully available. Trendon Watford and Kelly Oubre Jr remain out for the Sixers, and their athleticism and length will certainly be missed against a team as loaded on the wings as the Hawks are.
The Sixers come into this game tied for 13th in the NBA in offensive rating with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks, averaging 115.5 points per 100 possessions. The Sixers will be at a noticeable size and athleticism disadvantage, which will be further exacerbated if Drummond and/or Edgecombe cannot go, but they should have the upper hand in the shot-making department.
The Hawks, who have won seven of their last ten, are looking to build off an impressive win against the Cavaliers. Atlanta will be without their most high-profile player, Trae Young, who has missed over a month of action with a right MCL sprain. Kristaps Porzingis, the major offseason addition for Atlanta, will also miss this game with an illness.
The Hawks have not missed a beat without Trae Young to this point, and a popular topic of conversation surrounding them is whether this team is actually better off without him. Young is a mesmerizing offensive talent, capable of picking defenses apart in the half-court and pulling up from the logo, though he has never been as good a shooter as his reputation leads one to believe. In the five games he played this year before getting hurt, he was shooting an unfathomable 19.2 percent from three-point range.
With the ball out of Trae Young's hands, the Hawks have been able to run-and-gun in a fashion that is incompatible with the way Young plays. Without a half-court dissector, the Hawks are relying on the egalitarian approach of getting out in transition, taking the first clean action, and letting everyone get a piece of the pie. In Young's absence, Jalen Johnson is quickly becoming one of the best all-around players in the NBA.
He is averaging 21.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game on 54.4-percent shooting. There is no sugarcoating how special he has been, combining a blossoming skillset with pogo-stick verticality. The statistical uptick may not be enough to warrant Most Improved Player votes, but to the eye, not many players have made a bigger leap than Johnson has.
The Sixers are going to need a top-tier Tyrese Maxey game against a team that, on paper, is the exact type of team that has given Maxey fits his entire career. Similar to the Orlando Magic, who Maxey always seems to struggle against, the Hawks have fast, long, and physical defenders on the perimeter that just keep coming in waves. If the Sixers do not have a bailout plan for him on the offensive end, he is going to be running his head into a brick wall all evening long. Paul George, Jared McCain, and Quentin Grimes have to hit their shots to keep the Hawks' defense honest, or this could get ugly quick.
Along with the aforementioned Jalen Johnson, the Hawks have another candidate worthy of Most Improved Player voting, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who is playing the best basketball of his career after coming to Atlanta from Minnesota. Dyson Daniels has a claim to be the best perimeter defender in the league after finishing second in Defensive Player of the Year voting last season, leading the NBA in steals, and ironically enough, winning Most Improved Player himself.
Daniels is currently averaging 2.2 steals per game this season, trailing only OKC's Cason Wallace. Last year's number one overall pick in the NBA Draft, Zaccharie Risacher, is playing good complementary basketball as well, easing himself into his role on the team without having to live up to the hype, profile, and expectations that usually come with that draft slot.
The Sixers have the best player on their side in this game, but styles make fights, and these Hawks pose a major problem for a team missing two of their best wings, possibly their best athlete, and maybe their two best big men, too. If Tyrese Maxey gets enveloped, it is hard to imagine the Sixers will have the firepower to prevail.
Prediction
Hawks 120 - Sixers 110
