Atlanta sports fans have been on the wrong end of huge comebacks over the past 5 years or so.
The Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 lead late in the Super Bowl and lost to the New England Patriots, the Georgia Bulldogs led the Alabama Crimson Tide 20-7 in the national title game and the Atlanta Braves blew a 3-1 lead against the Los Angeles Dodgers to miss the World Series.
So, it was nice to see a team from Georgia actually leading a comeback rather than blowing a lead for a chance. The Atlanta Hawks rallied past the Philadelphia 76ers and pulled off one of the biggest, most unlikely comebacks in NBA history.
According to SportsCenter data, the Sixers actually had a 99.7% win probability with 2:40 minutes left in the third quarter. They led by 24 at that point.
With 2:10 left in the 3Q, the 76ers were up 24 and had a 99.7% chance to win 😳 pic.twitter.com/Pra1SYuDtM
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 17, 2021
The Sixers couldn’t score a single field goal in the final 6:30 minutes of the game and ended up losing a pivotal Game 5 at home. Also, they blew 15+ point leads in back-to-back games these playoffs.
Doc Rivers was once again at the wrong end of a postseason collapse, and Ben Simmons went 4/14 from the charity stripe, making the ‘Hack-A-Ben’ the most effective strategy for Nate McMillan.
Now, the Philadelphia 76ers will have to win two games in a row to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, a scenario that seemed quite unlikely at the beginning of the series given the fact that they finished the season with the best record in the East.
And, as great as Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks have been this season and in this series, there’s just no way that you can blow these huge leads in back-to-back games and expect to win a series. This could be a defining moment for them.
