Sixers takeaways: Paul George’s best game, Joel Embiid’s availability, and more from loss to the Hawks

ATLANTA — Paul George is moving well.

Joel Embiid is making progress in his recovery.

VJ Edgecombe showed in the third quarter why he needs to be more involved.

Yet, the 76ers had a tough time making key defensive stops. And when they finally did, they struggled to score late.

These things stood out in their 120-117 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday at State Farm Arena.

This matchup might have been George’s best performance of the season, considering the versatility he displayed in Friday’s victory over the Indiana Pacers.

» READ MORE: Paul George shows signs of being the versatile difference-maker the Sixers expected last season

But against the Hawks, George took his ballhandling, scoring, and defense to another level. He showed no signs of someone dealing with left knee injury management. As a result, the nine-time All-Star exhibited why the Sixers (14-11) gave him a four-year, $211.5 million deal on July 6, 2024, to form a Big Three with Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

George finished with 35 points while making 7 of 10 three-pointers. The 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward also had four rebounds, three assists, and one block. He scored nine of his points on 3-for-6 shooting — while making both of his three-pointers — in the second quarter.

“I’m getting more and more comfortable within the system, within the offense,” George said. “At that point, now, I can kind of just be myself. Just allow the game to come to me, find my moment. And be aggressive in those.”

George scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter. Now healthier, the 35-year-old, who missed 56 games since the start of last season, is, once again, able to get by defenders.

“Last year was a lot going on,” he said. “I was just trying to patch up stuff. This year, I’m a lot healthier. I’m able. I feel like I can play my game. I feel like I can be myself.

“There’s still some things that got to come back. I’m not all the way 100 [percent]. But I’m more myself than I was last year. So that’s the positive that I can take. And everything else is, with time, I’m just going to continue to get better.”

At the start of the season, Embiid needed at least two full days in between games to play. For instance, if the Sixers center played on a Monday, he wouldn’t play again until Thursday of that week.

But that changed on Sunday.

Embiid was back on the court after scoring a season-high 39 points on Friday. After that game, the 2023 MVP, who is dealing with knee issues, said he would petition to play against the Hawks. And his presence was needed with Maxey, the team’s leading scorer, missing his second straight game with an illness.

“The main thing is he was feeling pretty good after the last game,” coach Nick Nurse said of playing Embiid. “Probably the schedule has helped a little bit, too, both pre and post these two games.

“Listen, I thought he had some pretty good opportunities tonight. I thought he had a lot of unfortunate ones, especially some in close to the basket that rolled off here and there. And I kind of wish he would have gotten to the free-throw line more tonight.”

Embiid was rerouted on several drives to the basket, where the officials didn’t call a foul. When he did attempt free throws, the 7-foot-2, 280-pounder made 5 of 6.

Embiid didn’t shoot the ball well from the field, making just 8 of 20 shots. However, he finished with 22 points, a season-high 14 rebounds, and two blocks for his first double-double of the season.

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“I feel OK,” he said of playing on one day’s rest. “I was a little tired out there. But I feel good. I’ll take it. I came out pretty good either way. Obviously, I would have felt better if we got the win. But that didn’t happen. … We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. But it was good things.”

His ability to play on limited days of rest is a good sign for the Sixers moving forward.

The night started poorly for Edgecombe, who was summoned to the bench early in the first quarter after picking up two fouls. But he settled down upon his return and was in video game mode in the third quarter.

That’s when the rookie shooting guard scored 17 of his 26 points. He did that while making 5 of 7 shots — including all three of his three-pointers — along with going 4-for-4 from the foul line while playing the entire quarter.

Edgecombe has been solid for the Sixers for most of the season. It’s just been a matter of keeping him involved. He gave the crowd in Atlanta a glimpse of what he can do when the offense runs through him.

The Sixers made clutch shots and kept mounting comeback attempts. They also had some solid defense, highlighted by Andre Drummond’s two blocked shots in the third quarter.

But it just seemed like whenever the Hawks really needed to make a basket, they did. A prime example was Onyeka Okongwu’s three-pointers to give the Hawks a 114-109 lead with 3 minutes, 31 seconds remaining. That shot squashed a 13-5 run by the Sixers.

Then, after Quentin Grimes’ three-pointer closed the gap to one point with 1:03 left, the Sixers made a defensive stop. However, they couldn’t score on their final two possessions.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey sits out game in Atlanta with an illness

Their ensuing possession, which concluded with George and Grimes missing three-pointers, appeared to be a few seconds of chaos.

The Sixers got the ball after Embiid’s defensive rebound with 41.3 seconds left. They passed up several good looks in addition to their two misses before Nickeil Alexander-Walker grabbed a rebound for the Hawks (15-12) with 6.8 seconds remaining.

“Listen, it’s always one of those, I think, when we [get] a stop, we want to get up the floor and hit them before the defense is set, for sure,” Nurse said. “That settles down a little bit. There’s some chances to take a timeout. When you don’t and don’t score, you always want to go back and do it, maybe.

“But I was pretty happy with — they were moving the ball. They had some looks. They had two cracks at it. Two guys who had just made shots, a bunch of shots down the stretch. I have to look at it again. I’m sitting here right now, [the final possession] was probably OK.”

Then, after Alexander-Walker made a pair of foul shots to give Atlanta a three-point cushion, Grimes missed a potential game-tying three at the buzzer.