Wroten, Sixers Go For Third Straight Win Tonight vs. Atlanta
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- The improving 76ers will be home tonight to welcome an outstanding Atlanta Hawks team to South Philadelphia.
The 76ers have won back-to-back games heading into this match-up with the Hawks, with both wins coming late. On Friday night, they beat the Nets up in Brooklyn, 90-88, on a Nerlens Noel dunk with 3.2 seconds left. Then on Saturday night at the Center, it was Michael Carter-Williams playing the hero with a driving lay-up with under 10 seconds to play to beat the Pacers, 93-92.
Tony Wroten led the 76ers with 20 points in that win over Pacers and the third-year guard says the Sixers are a team that is starting to find its way.
"Beginning of the season, being in the game, late games and losing them really kills the rhythm, just kills everything," Sixers guard Tony Wroten tells KYW Newsradio. "So we buckled down in practice, kept working and figured out it starts on the defensive end. Starting to get these games, late game, so starting (to get) more confidence and our guys starting playing together. It's fun."
Listen to the entire interview with Tony Wroten:
Wroten leads the 76ers in scoring this season, pouring in 17.1 points per game and he is second in assists, dishing out 5.3 a game. He also provided some recent late-game heroics as his driving layup on January 5th, with under ten seconds left, helped the 76ers secure a 95-92 win over Cleveland, their first home win of the season.
The 76ers started the season 0-17 and since then they have gone 7-12. They lost their first 14 games at the Center, but now they've won two of their last three in South Philadelphia and Wroten has been very impressed with the fan support they've been getting.
"Man, it's been the whole season," Wroten says. "Since the Cleveland game (first home win on January 5th), we've been seeing, oh my God, it's been insane in there. Can't really hear yourself think. Gotta use hand signals, that's how loud it is. It just feels great to have a fan base like that and when you've got a fan base like that, you want to reward them with wins so they have something to brag about."
This game with Atlanta will be a very tough challenge for the 76ers. Atlanta has the best record in the Eastern Conference at 29-8 and they will ride an eight-game winning streak to town. Wroten says it is not hard to see why the Hawks are so good.
"They share the ball and shoot threes," Wroten says. "They're a very good shooting team, especially (former 76er) Kyle Korver. I think he's pretty much shooting 50% (52.4% from three), which is outrageous. A great shooter you can't leave open. So in order for us to have a chance to get (a) win, we're going to have to be on our p's and q's and shut down the threes."
The 76ers and Hawks will tip-off at 7:00pm on Tuesday night.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
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