Atlanta Hawks Clinch No. 8 Spot in The Eastern Conference With 124-110 Victory Over Philadelphia

For the second night in a row, the Atlanta Hawks were on the road facing an undermanned team that is more interested in their draft lottery odds than actually winning the game. Atlanta faced the Philadelphia 76ers tonight and with a win, Atlanta would clinch the No. 8 seed in the East. They got the victory tonight with a strong second half performance after a bit of a sleepy start, outscoring Philly 64-44 in the second half, and now they will face the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night in the NBA Play-In Tournament.

It was a strong night for Trae Young and Caris LeVert, with the two teammates scoring 30-plus points. Young finished the night with 36 points (23 in the second half) and 11 assists on 10-22 shooting. LeVert scored 31 points on 12-15 shooting off the bench. Other notable performances from the Hawks tonight included a double-double from Mouhamed Gueye, who notched 10 points and a career best 18 rebounds. Georges Niang came off the bench to score 16 points. Overall, Atlanta shot 48% from the field and 38% from three.

While Atlanta still has one more remaining regular season game on Sunday vs Orlando, that game will not mean anything when it comes to the standings. The Hawks have clinched their spot in the play-in Tournament and will have a chance to get back to the playoffs with a win on Tuesday.

The Hawks kept the same starting five tonight with Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Mouhamed Gueye, and Onyeka Okongwu.

It was a sleepy performance from the Hawks right out of the gate and the offense was struggling to shoot. Philly opened up the game 3-7 from three while the Hawks were 0-4. Quin Snyder took an early timeout with the shorthanded 76ers leading 13-11. The offensive struggles continued for the Hawks, but their defense got better and they took a 29-26 lead going into the second quarter. In the first quarter, the Hawks shot 2-9 from three. After starting 3-7 from three, the Sixers finished the quarter hitting only one of their last six three point attempts.

Zacch has a pair of transition dunks in the first 3+ minutes pic.twitter.com/YPpM3AmMQR
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025

That changed in the second quarter, though. The 76ers were playing with confidence and were not intimidated at all by Atlanta. Marcus Bagley, who was 1-21 from three point range coming into tonight, went on to have the best quarter of his NBA career, scoring 12 points on 4-4 shooting from three, and the 76ers were 6-8 (75%) from three in the first half of the game. An 8-0 76ers run got the lead up to 48-41, and the Hawks looked stunned. Philadelphia and its depleted roster scored 40 second-quarter points to take a 66-60 halftime lead over the Hawks. It would have been worse if Caris LeVert had not been able to score 11 points in the quarter.

Mo leading a little defense to offense pic.twitter.com/BCL0C9FvLV
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025

The second half was different. Trailing by six to start the half, Atlanta opened up on a 16-8 run to get the lead back and they would go on to outscore the 76ers 31-19 in the third quarter. The difference? Philly was 0-11 from three. Atlanta led 91-85 and were looking to close out the 76ers and clinch the No. 8 seed.

They did just that. The 76ers could not close the gap and the duo of Young and LeVert scored 20 points on the way to Atlanta winning the final quarter 33-25. Atlanta shot 6-11 from three in the final quarter and cruised to a 124-110 victory over Philadelphia.

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