The Atlanta Hawks are happy to be home after a 3-3 road trip, but they may not be happy to see Wednesday night's opponent.
Atlanta will try to stop a six-game losing streak to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday when the two teams meet at Philips Arena.
But the Hawks are getting the Sixers at the right time. Philly has dropped two straight, 10 of its last 12 and owns an 11-game road losing streak, which is its longest since a 20-game road losing streak from Dec. 1987-Mar. 1988.
Atlanta will just try to get healthy for the Sixers contest. Kyle Korver and Zaza Pachulia both missed the last game of the road trip in Denver on Monday and they are both listed as game-time decisions for Wednesday.
Against the Nuggets, Horford led the road-weary and undermanned Hawks with 17 points. Jeff Teague sprained his ankle, but returned in the loss to score 15 points. Josh Smith also had 15 and that put him over the 10,000-point mark in his NBA career.
The six-game road trip, which started with three consecutive wins and finished with three straight losses, is over and the team feels alright with how it went.
"We come out with a win tonight, six games in 11 days, that would have made it a great road trip," head coach Larry Drew said after Monday's game. "We finished 3-3 on the road trip, so for us, .500 basketball, that'll be a good road trip."
The Sixers did a lot of things well in their 109-101 setback to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday. Philly outscored Boston in the paint (64-38), and forced the Celtics into 22 turnovers, but 11-for-19 3-point shooting from Boston was too much to overcome.
"When you look at the stat sheet and we have 64 points in the paint, 28 second-chance points, 14 fast-break, 30 points off turnovers, you'd think we would win that game," said Sixers coach Doug Collins. "Their 3-point shooting was really the difference. We were minus-18 at the 3-point line."
The Sixers enjoyed a well-balanced attack with seven players in double figures. Thaddeus Young led the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds, then Evan Turner and Jrue Holiday both had 18. Holiday handed out 10 assists and Turner pulled down nine boards and had seven assists.
Despite the nice stat sheet and even distribution, it was yet another loss for the Sixers. They are 7 1/2 games out of the eighth seed in the East and have a road-heavy finale to the season.
Philly begins a three-game road trip on Wednesday with stops in Miami and Orlando on the docket.
The Sixers have won six straight against the Hawks and two in a row at Atlanta.