The veteran Atlanta forward had 28 points and 17 rebounds as
the Hawks snapped a six-games losing streak with a 103-95
victory over the 76ers on Monday night at Philips Arena.
"We feel like every game from now on until the end is a must-win
game," said Millsap, whose team holds the final playoff spot in
the Eastern Conference despite 20 losses in the past 27 games.
Guard Lou Williams came off the bench to score eight of his 22
points in the final three minutes as the Hawks (32-41) broke
away from a late 92-92 tie.
"We were close to winning. If that doesn't get you excited,
nothing will," said Williams, a former 76er. "It's my job to
score."
"We had done a good job on Lou up until that point,"
Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said. "Then Lou did what Lou does
and the game was pretty much determined at that stage."
Forward Thaddeus Young had 23 points for the 76ers, who had
snapped a record-tying 26-game losing streak on Saturday. Guard
James Anderson scored 19 for Philadelphia.
Rookie guard Michael Carter-Williams finished with 16 points,
nine rebounds and nine assists for Philadelphia, which committed
20 turnovers.
"I thought that their defense intensity lifted 10-fold and I
didn't think we handled it well," Brown said. "They ran us out
of a lot of our stuff."
The Hawks, down by 14 points in the second quarter, finally got
going and closed the third quarter on a 19-5 run to pull ahead
75-73.
"Defensively, in the second half, we were significantly better,"
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said.
Millsap had nine points in the third quarter and Atlanta made 11
of 17 shots, including their first three 3-point attempts.
"We just looked at each other and realized," said Hawks guard
Kyle Korver, who had missed all the games in the losing streak
with back spasms. "There was no speech. We just knew what was at
stake. Hopefully, we got some things back on track."
Young hit his first three 3-point attempts to help the 76ers
(16-58) take a 31-18 first-quarter lead, and the advantage was
53-43 at intermission.
The Hawks missed their first 10 attempts from behind the 3-point
arc and were 2-for-15 in the first half while shooting 31.9
percent overall.
Millsap had 15 points at halftime for the Hawks, while Young led
the 76ers, who shot 51.2 percent, with 14 points.
The 76ers made 11 3-point shots in the game, but were 12-of-20
from the foul line compared to 24-of-30 for the Hawks.
"The aggressive nature of the game rose and we just didn't
execute towards the end," Young said.
Millsap made nine of 13 free throws and was 9-of-15 from the
floor in his 14th game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.
"Paul has been an anchor for us all year," Korver said.
"Offensively, defensively, knocking down big threes, posting up.
He's just been great. We needed them all tonight. Paul stepped
up in a big way."
NOTES: G Kyle Korver returned to the Hawks' starting lineup
after missing six games with back spasms. He scored 11 points
despite hitting just one of six 3-point attempts. ... The Hawks
also had F DeMarre Carroll back after he missed Saturday's loss
in Washington because of a stomach virus. ... Philadelphia F
Arnett Moultrie, assigned to the NBA Development League on March
15, was suspended five games without pay by the NBA on Monday
for violating the anti-drug program. The 6-foot-10 second-year
player from Mississippi State has appeared in 12 games with the
76ers this season. ... Backup C Byron Mullens missed a second
straight game for the 76ers because of a sprained left ankle.
... It was the first of three straight home games for the Hawks,
who host Chicago on Wednesday and Cleveland on Friday. ... The
76ers return home to play Charlotte on Wednesday.
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