3 adjustments Sixers must make for Game 2 against Trae Young and Hawks

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers must make some changes in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night (7:30 on TNT).

The upstart Hawks built a 26-point first-half lead and held on for a 128-124 Game 1 victory Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center.

Here is what Doc Rivers and the Sixers need to do to even the best-of-seven series:

Change it up with Young

Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle should be matched up more with Hawks star Trae Young than they were in Game 1 and Danny Green should spend less time in that role.

Young scored 19 of his 25 first-half points when guarded by Green, though the other Sixers’ defender in high pick-and-rolls when Young had the ball didn’t give Green enough help in the opening two quarters. The result was too much room for Young, who created high-percentage shots for his teammates and himself.

Green was a second-team NBA All-Defensive selection in 2016-17 but he’s 33 and it's a lot to ask him to corral a fast guard like Young.

“It’s a challenge all over with him,” Green said Monday. “He’s a great player. He’s obviously figured it out. We have our hands full.”

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Simmons picked up two relatively innocuous-looking fouls in the first 2:57 of the third quarter during his only stretch as the primary defender on Young, causing Green to switch back to Young.

The slender Young is very good at initiating contact by leaning into his defender and drawing fouls. The Sixers should be aware that he sometimes benefits from the “star calls” similar to the ones the Sixers’ Joel Embiid gets.

Rivers prefers using Simmons, who began Game 1 on 3-point specialist Bogdan Bogdanovic, as a roamer on defense, but the coach cannot afford to have Simmons on players other than Young so often Tuesday evening in South Philadelphia.

For his part, Simmons is looking forward to guarding the 6-1 Young more in Game 2.

“I probably will do that,” Simmons said. “I want to. If the refs aren’t going to call so many fouls, I can be physical and be 6-10. … We’ll see.”

In the second half, the Sixers limited Young to 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting (0 of 4 on 3-pointers) with three assists and three turnovers because they didn’t give Young as much space and were more physical with him. Young had 25 points on 8-for-13 shooting (4 of 7 on 3-pointers), seven assists and one turnover at intermission.

Thybulle typically stayed in front of Young during parts of the third and fourth quarters when he was matched up with Young and didn’t require a lot of help from his teammates. That wasn’t the case in the first half and forced the Sixers into scramble mode that the Hawks exploited.

Young said he welcomes an aggressive approach.

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“If they’re going to be physical, use their aggression to my advantage,” said, Young, who finished with 35 points and 10 assists. “… It’s really figuring out what type of defense they’re in and attacking.”

It also would hurt if the Sixers can force Young to work more at the defensive end.

Don’t play the 2nd unit as a group

The Sixers went from down by 12 points late in the first quarter to trailing by 20 early in the second period with reserves George Hill, who had an unusually subpar Game 1, Tyrese Maxey, Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz and Dwight Howard on the floor.

Starter Tobias Harris returned with 10:06 left in the second quarter and the deficit swelled to 26 by the time the rest of the starters came back on the floor.

That was too much for the Sixers to overcome despite a furious fourth-quarter rally, fueled by full-court pressure, in which they closed within two points in the final minute.

Rivers didn’t use more than four bench players at a time in the second half, which should be the case going forward.

“(Sunday) it didn’t work out (with the second unit), but neither did the first group,” Rivers said.

Take care of the ball

The Sixers committed 12 of their 19 turnovers in the first 14 minutes, which contributed to falling so far behind. Too many of them occurred on ill-advised decisions and were unforced, which is a recipe for losing.

“That was the difference,” Rivers said of the turnovers.

That the Sixers were smarter with the ball, coupled with handling Young better and staying with Atlanta’s shooters – the Hawks still made a franchise-record 20 3-pointers – in the second half has to continue in Game 2.

Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes.com; @TomMoorePhilly