PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Seth Curry scored 20 points, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid each added 17 and the Philadelphia 76ers built a big early lead and cruised to a 127-83 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night to clinch an Eastern Conference playoff berth.
Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz scored 12 apiece and Tyrese Maxey added 11 for the Sixers, who became the second team in the Eastern Conference to secure a postseason spot. The Sixers are currently second in the East, a game behind Brooklyn and 2 1/2 games ahead of third-place Milwaukee with 10 games to play.
Both the Nets and Bucks were off Wednesday.
Atlanta was missing star guard Trae Young, who missed his fourth game since spraining his left ankle on April 21 against New York. John Collins scored 21 points and Solomon Hill added 14 for Atlanta.
Young did pick up a technical foul in the fourth quarter for yelling at officials from the Hawks bench following an incident where teammate Kris Dunn picked up an unsportsmanlike technical for getting in the middle of a post-play celebration between Milton and Matisse Thybulle.
Philadelphia never trailed, jumping out to a 37-17 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks in large part to Curry’s 13 points on 5-of-7 from the floor.Atlanta shot just 33.8% from the floor, its second-worst mark of the season, and 32% from beyond the 3-point line. The 83 points for the Hawks were a season low, coming on the heels of an 86-point performance in a loss Monday night at Detroit.
Philadelphia’s starters didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Ben Simmons, who was limited to 15 minutes by foul trouble and the game’s lopsided nature, scored eight points and dished out six assists.
