The Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers will meet for the first time this season on Friday evening in what will be a rematch of the second-round playoff series between these two teams earlier this year. The Hawks of course won that series in seven games, pulling off multiple road comebacks on their way to a 4-3 series win.
The 76ers experienced an offseason of dramatics following their series loss, and Ben Simmons hasn’t played for Philadelphia since that Game 7 collapse by the Sixers. Philadelphia has experienced an up-and-down season so far, but that is largely due to players being in healthy and safety protocols and/or out due to injury.