The Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks are locked together at 2-2 in the NBA playoffs as their battle to reach the Eastern Conference Finals continues on Wednesday.
After losing the opener at home, the 76ers appeared to assume control by taking the next two games to forge ahead.
However, with Joel Embiid enduring a second half to forget, the Hawks hit back on Monday, a 103-100 triumph leaving the situation delicately poised as the series switches back to Philadelphia for Game 5.
For a franchise linked with the catchphrase "trust the process", the key for the 76ers – who are the top seeds in the East – is believing in each other, according to head coach Doc Rivers.
Asked for the reason behind his team's loss in Atlanta, he said: "We stopped passing. I thought we started the game that way, then got back into ball movement, then went to hero basketball.
"Basically, everybody wanted to be the hero, rather than trusting the team and trusting each other.
"If you do that, you usually lose, especially when the other team outworks you the whole game, and that's what they did."
Embiid – a player who arrived via the draft amid a patient rebuild that prioritised long-term planning over immediate results – endured a difficult outing in Atalanta, going 4-for-20 as he missed all 12 of his shots in the second half. That run included an unsuccessful lay-up in the closing seconds that would have put his team ahead.
Bothered by a knee injury suffered in the opening round against the Washington Wizards, Embiid saw his offensive production drop dramatically.
A temporary blip or a greater cause for concern? Only time will tell, but the 76ers will not want to fall behind knowing they have to travel to Atlanta for Game 6.
PIVOTAL PERFORMERS
Tobias Harris – Philadelphia 76ers
Harris is averaging 23.2 points per game in the playoffs, easily a career high. He is shooting at 40 per cent from deep too, becoming a consistent contributor for his team on offense. However, with Embiid not at full power, the 28-year-old may have to ease the strain on his ailing team-mate by taking on an even greater workload.
Trae Young – Atlanta Hawks
Young created NBA history in Game 4, becoming the youngest player to have 18 or more assists in a postseason game. He also scored 25 points, with his fifth double-double of the playoffs demonstrating his importance to this Hawks outfit. No individual had managed both 25 points and 18 assists in a playoff outing since Tim Hardaway back in May 1991.
KEY BATTLE – Embiid against his ailing knee
"I'm just trying to do the best I can," Embiid said when talking to the media after Game 4. The center – runner-up to fellow big Nikola Jokic in the MVP race – is having to deal with a partially torn meniscus at just the wrong time in the season.
He sat out Game 5 against the Wizards as the 76ers sealed a semi-final spot, but with this series so delicately balanced there is little time to take a break.
The Hawks, who have won only three of 24 best-of-seven series in which they found themselves 2-1 down – will sense the chance to strike on the road as they aim to reach the Conference Finals for the first time since 2015.
HEAD TO HEAD
This is the third playoff series between the teams, with the 76ers progressing in both 1980 and 1982. They also won two of the three meeting in the regular season, though the Hawks have already prevailed once in this series in Philadelphia.
The Brooklyn Nets could yet be boosted by the return of James Harden on Tuesday after he was upgraded to doubtful.
Harden had initially been ruled out of Game 5 against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The former Houston Rockets star has been managing a hamstring injury since the start of April.
Harden, who had been making an MVP run prior to the initial setback, returned in the closing stages of the regular season.
He then averaged 27.8 points per game in the first-round series against the Boston Celtics but bowed out 43 seconds into Game 1 at home to the Bucks.
The potential for Harden to feature in Game 5 lifts the Nets, who have also now lost Kyrie Irving to an ankle issue.
Having gone 2-0 up against Milwaukee without Harden, Brooklyn lost both games on the road to level the series.
Kevin Durant has led the team with 29.8 points per game in the series but was limited to nine-of-25 shooting in Game 4.
Kawhi Leonard's huge dunk in the Los Angeles Clippers' series-levelling win over the Utah Jazz sent ripples through the NBA, stopping Joel Embiid in his tracks.
Embiid was undertaking post-game media duties after the Philadelphia 76ers were beaten by the Atlanta Hawks, when his attention was diverted by seeing Leonard in full flow.
"Oh my god. See that dunk, see that Kawhi dunk?" said Embiid.
Unlike Embiid, Leonard finished on the winning side in Monday’s playoff games, his 31 points helping the Clippers post a 118-104 victory over the Utah Jazz in Game 4 of their Western Conference semi-final.
Leonard's masterpiece came near the end of the second quarter.
"I don't get to see the reaction of what's on the web or social media or whatever, but Zu [Ivica Zubac] showed me a clip of Embiid talking, and yeah that's the only thing I got from it. During the game in the heat of the moment I know it's a big play, but you've got to have the next-play mentality because right after I think Joe Ingles came down and hit a three pretty wide open in that corner, so we've still got room for improvement," Leonard said.
Leonard sat out the closing minutes after appearing to hurt his knee, but when asked about the blow after the game he said the knee was "good", eager to move on to the next question.
When asked about the team's prospects of reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time, Leonard almost scoffed at that being his ambition.
He said: "I don't care about the Western Conference Finals. I'm trying to win a championship.
"Obviously that's the next step but I'm not even looking at that."
Paul George also scored 31 points as the Clippers edged out the Jazz at Staples Center, teeing up Game 5 in Utah on Wednesday.
Having been 2-0 down in this series, the Clippers have set aside criticism of their slow start to look sharp again.
Leonard indicated he was impervious to external discussion surrounding the team's performance.
"I don't even know we took criticism," he said. "I don't know what's going on in the outside world."
Donovan Mitchell said Kawhi Leonard "destroyed" the Utah Jazz in Game 4's 118-104 defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers, but he is bullish the top seeds can get back to winning ways.
Leonard scored 31 points with seven rebounds and three assists for the Clippers, well supported by Paul George with 31 points and nine rebounds as they levelled up the series at 2-2.
Mitchell put up 37 points for the Jazz but it was not enough, after his side trailed by 24 points at half-time following the Clippers' first-half blitz.
"He destroyed us, he had a hell of a game," Mitchell said about Leonard, who finished the game on the bench after a knock to his knee from a collision with Joe Ingles.
Leonard refused to be drawn on the potential injury, declining to address it in-depth in his post-game video conference and saying on court: "Nah, I'll be good."
Mitchell said that the Clippers were on a "different level" but was buoyed by his side's second-half display.
"They had three guys with 20 points or more, they got going," Mitchell said. "We can't let a team like that get going because they're lethal."
He added: "They just were at a different level. We couldn’t buy a bucket.
"Sometimes that's the case but we've got to continue to guard. I think we found a few things that will give us an advantage. We started being aggressive and that's how we cut it to 10-12.
"If we can continue to play like we did in the second half… come out in Game 5 and be ready, I think we'll be in good shape but we've also got to guard too."
On Wednesday the series returns to Salt Lake City where the Jazz won the opening two games, before the Clippers won the next two in Los Angeles.
"We've got to take care of home court," Mitchell said. "They came out and punched us in the face two times. We've got to be ready for it."
Joel Embiid said he was bothered by his knee problem after struggling on the floor as the Philadelphia 76ers squandered a lead in their 103-100 loss against the Atlanta Hawks.
Embiid appeared to be hampered by the meniscus strain he sustained in the Eastern Conference first-round win over the Washington Wizards, missing a close-range layup 8.8 seconds from the end with the 76ers trailing the Hawks 101-100 on Monday.
NBA MVP runner-up Embiid went 0-for-12 shooting the second half, having spent some time in the locker room, as the Hawks – overturning an 18-point lead – rallied past the top-seeded 76ers to level the Eastern Conference semi-final matchup.
Embiid, who finished with 17 points and a playoff career-high 21 rebounds, told reporters post-game: "Great look. Great look. I just didn't have the lift.
"Thought I got fouled, too. But usually I would go up, especially for a bucket like that, try to dunk it.
"Try to get fouled and get an and-one. But ... not being able to jump for obvious reasons. ... It's tough."
Philadelphia's Embiid sustained a small meniscus tear in Game 4 of the first-round series against the Wizards, returning for the semi-final opener with the fifth-seeded Hawks.
"I guess it's already known," Embiid – the first Sixers player to have 20 or more rebounds in a postseason game since Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo in 2001 – said. "Don't need to explain ... I'm just trying to do the best I can.
"I thought in the beginning of the game, when I went back to the locker room, I just felt like I didn't have it tonight," added Embiid, who became the eighth 76ers player ever with at least 20 career double-doubles in the playoffs.
Paul George and Kawhi Leonard led the way as the Los Angeles Clippers topped the Utah Jazz 118-104 in Game 4 to level the Western Conference semi-final series.
George and Leonard posted 31 points each to lead the fourth-seeded Clippers past the Jazz in Los Angeles on Monday.
Entering the contest, George and Leonard were the only pair of Clippers team-mates to score 30-plus points in the same playoff game more than once (Game 3 and Game 5 of the first round in 2020).
George and Leonard combined again to see off the top-ranked Jazz – a win fuelled by a 30-13 blowout in the opening quarter at Staples Center.
Marcus Morris Sr. was the only other Clippers player with double-digit points as the Phoenix Suns await the winner of this series in the Western Conference Finals.
The Jazz – who had their six-game winning streak snapped in Game 3, a run which tied the second longest in franchise history – were led by Donovan Mitchell's game-high 37 points on the road.
Game 5 of the series will be held in Utah on Wednesday, with the Jazz seeking to reclaim the lead.
Trae Young was the inspiration behind the Atlanta Hawks' series-tying 103-100 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference.
After a cold start, Young finished with 25 points to lead the Hawks' rally as Atlanta upstaged the top-seeded 76ers in Game 4 at home.
The 76ers blew an 18-point lead and the series advantage, with the matchup now deadlock at 2-2 following Young's performance.
Young became the first player to record at least 25 points and 18 assists in a playoff game since Tim Hardaway in 1991, while the all-Star is the youngest player in NBA history to have 18-plus assists in a postseason contest – surpassing Spud Webb (1986).
He also became the first Hawks player with 15-plus points and 15-plus assists in a playoff game since Doc Rivers – now head coach of the 76ers – tallied 16 points and 18 assists in 1988.
John Collins (14 points and 12 rebounds) and Clint Capela (12 points and 13 rebounds) added double-doubles, while Bogdan Bogdanovic contributed 22 points.
Joel Embiid – who looked far from his best after going 0-for-12 shooting in the second half – missed an open lay-up in the dying stages, before Seth Curry's unsuccessful buzzer-beating three-point attempt to force overtime.
Embiid, appearing to be hampered by his ongoing meniscus issue, had a playoff career-high 21 rebounds to go with 17 points.
The series heads back to Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia for Game 5 midweek.
Bucks at Nets
The Brooklyn Nets will be without Kyrie Irving and James Harden for Tuesday's visit of the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals, which is level at 2-2.
Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers slammed his side for playing "hero basketball" as the Eastern Conference top seeds surrendered their lead against the Atlanta Hawks in the semi-finals.
The 76ers squandered a 13-point advantage in Atlanta, where the Hawks rallied to a 103-100 victory in Game 4 in the NBA playoffs on Monday.
Atlanta levelled the second-round matchup at 2-2 after 76ers All-Star and MVP finalist Joel Embiid missed an open lay-up in the dying stages, before Seth Curry's unsuccessful buzzer-beating three-point attempt to force overtime.
The 76ers saw their lead whittled away as the Hawks overpowered the visitors, irritating Rivers post-game.
"We stopped passing. I thought we started the game off that way," Rivers told reporters. "Then we got back into the ball movement and went back to hero basketball. Basically everybody wanted to be the hero instead of trusting the team, trusting each other.
"When you do that you usually lose especially when the other team outworks you the whole f****** game and that's what they did today."
Embiid, who has been battling knee issues during the playoffs, finished with 17 points and a playoff career-high 21 rebounds, yet appeared hampered.
Philadelphia's Embiid sustained a small meniscus tear in Game 4 of the first-round series against the Washington Wizards, returning for the semi-final opener with the fifth-seeded Hawks.
Rivers was unable to provide an update on Embiid's injury status.
"I don't know. He went in the back [to the locker room]," Rivers said. "I know something was bothering him but I'm not sure what it was."
Rivers refused to criticise Embiid for his late miss at 101-100, nor his side's final play for Curry's tough shot on the buzzer.
"To me the game should never have come to that point," Rivers said. "We missed so many opportunities. My eyes told me we blew a golden opportunity tonight."
On the final play, Rivers added: "It's seven seconds, you've got to go the length of the floor.
"That's what we drew up but anybody could have been open. We got a decent shot, Seth had a decent look, thought he'd made it."
Rivers felt the Hawks were the "more physical and tougher team".
The two sides meet again in Game 5 in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
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