With tip-off a mere hour away, the Hawks lost a seventh player to the COVID Health & Safety Protocols when Sharife Cooper tested positive for the virus. The Hawks entered the game with a whopping nine players absent - including numerous starters and star Trae Young - and on the second half of a back-to-back playing a healthy, rested Philadelphia 76ers squad on the road. To make matters worse, Bogdan Bogdanovic missed his first 13 shots, John Collins found himself in some early foul trouble, and two additional players - including young star Cam Reddish - exited with ankle injuries. Throw these ingredients into a pot and you could only expect to lose, right?
In what may be the most unprecedented outcome of the season, the Hawks managed to pull out a desperately need win. Sam & Greg - filling in for John & Hugh - broke it all down.
"You're playing with a bunch of strangers!" Greg exclaimed, but the result is what matters most. "And the result was win 98-96 on the road up in Philadelphia," Sam replied. "Nate McMillan is earning his money with all the people out and unavailable to play, a limited bench."
Bogdanovic, who is still limited coming back from injury, scored all 15 of his points in the final period - with 10 of them coming in the final 3:44. Reddish and Collins added 35 points in limited minutes. Onyeka Okongwu locked down Joel Embiid, or at least as well as one can.
Friday night was nothing short of a heroic effort for a Hawks squad that need to get back on track after dropping seven of their last ten games coming in the matchup, with all of those coming at home. It remains to be seen whether this will finally be the game that gets the Hawks back on track, but it was enough to stop the bleeding. On a night where every went wrong, the Hawks managed to do just enough to make sure it ended right.