Series over.

The Hawks don’t have the horses to keep up with the Sixers. They just don’t. They’re a good team with good pieces, and if they make a couple of solid moves they could be an Eastern Conference contender in the coming years, but right now they’re a #5 seed and the Sixers are a #1 seed, and that was pretty obvious in Atlanta on Friday night.

Full disclosure, I’m heading down to the shore and gotta leave early tomorrow morning, so instead of traditional observations, we’re going with 1,000 words in a list format for the Sixers’ comprehensive Game 3 win.

1) When Bogdan Bogdanovic scored the game’s first basket with a goofy bank off the top of the backboard, you knew there were gonna be some ugly-ass shots in this game. More of them came from the Hawks, who finished 6-23 from three and couldn’t get into any kind of offensive rhythm.

2) Danny Green had to come out early with the right calf strain, about 8:15 in the first quarter, and Matisse Thybulle came in for him. Awesome Thybulle minutes early, with a breakout dunk, backdoor cut for a layup, and two steals. The three early fouls just killed that flow though, and forced him out of the game right before halftime. He had to navigate the foul issue all game long.

3) Doc Rivers didn’t have a Green update postgame, but said he doubts he’ll play in Game 4. Calf injuries are tough ones, in his words.

4) Pennsylvania native Hubie Brown is 87 years old and does better color commentary than most people 30 years younger.

5) Atlanta doubled the hell out of Embiid throughout. Rivers thought the Sixers’ spacing could be better, but after some frenetic early sequences, Joel settled in and went on to finish with 27 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists. He’s just a monster out there. It’s unbelievable.

6) First quarter Furkan Korkmaz minutes. He scored 11! Eleven first quarter Korkmaz points. No Shake Milton initially, but Korkmaz hit a bank shot in the lane and then poured in six more points. Doc brought in Milton and George Hill around the 3:19 mark in the first, so they went nine-deep in that period after the Green injury.

7) We did get an all-bench lineup to end the first quarter. George Hill threw a couple of bad pass turnovers and missed two foul shots. Bad minutes from him, but redeemed by a steal that led to a Tobias Harris bucket. It seems as though the philosophy from Doc is just to roll that 10-man rotation and see which bench player is cooking on any given night. It’s not like they are bringing Jordan Clarkson off the pine as a sure bet, so they do it this way instead and do it on the fly.

8) Rivers put Shake Milton in with the starting unit when they came back on the floor around the midway mark of the second quarter. Tyrese Maxey got second quarter minutes to make up for Green’s loss. Some funky lineup stuff in this game as a result of Danny having to go out.

9) We saw some more of the defensive adjustment the Sixers made in Game 2, which was a switch and ICE on those double drags. This is what it looks like:

10) Another thing they were able to do was go at Trae Young a little bit more. With Green out, it was harder for Atlanta to hide Trae on a less-mobile spot-up shooter, so Philly attacked him more on pick and rolls and made life harder in general.

11) Atlanta – not a basketball town. Half that crowd was looking ahead to SEC football, or NASCAR, or Atlanta United soccer. It’s such a funky melting pot of a sports town down there.

12) There is no reason for the in-game interview. The coaches don’t say anything interesting and nobody has ever learned anything during these two-question sessions.

13) Three first half fouls for Kevin Huerter was pretty brutal for Atlanta. If they’re gonna keep pace, they need him and Gallinari to score off the bench, because the Hawks’ starters just aren’t going to outplay the Sixers’ starters en route to three more wins.

14) No, I don’t know why Ben Simmons jumped and threw a kick out pass when he was underneath the basket:

To Ben’s credit, he showed a lot of aggression early in the third. Got some buckets, got downhill, and got himself to the foul line. He missed both free throws, but ended 4-8 on the night, which is okay. It can only improve, the free throw shooting. Rivers said at halftime they told Simmons that he thought he “passed up too many opportunities.” He noted that they wanted to “feature him on the post in the third quarter.”

15) John Collins, man. You gotta be impressed with how athletic he is. He can jump out of the gym.

16) Remember the woman who ripped LeBron James? The “Courtside Karen?” She was back for this one:

17) At the start of the second half, Doc put Korkmaz in the starting lineup, then actually kept Embiid in with four bench players to finish out the third. He opened the fourth with the Harris + bench lineup. Again, trying different things with Danny Green not available.

18) How about Atlanta fans cheering when Embiid began to grab his knee while limping up the court? Sure sounded like it to me. Shame on y’all.

19) Atlanta showed 2-3 zone again, for a grand total of one possession. Thybulle hit a three-pointer and they immediately came out of it.

20) Loved the Dwight Howard three point brick that came out to George Hill for a made three-pointer. FWIW, Dwight was 4-5 from the foul line in this game and went for 12 points and six rebounds.

21) Tobias Harris banging his head off a video camera? Get out of here. Move everybody back five feet. The video guys and fans are too close to begin with.

22) The Collins/Embiid foul and review in the fourth? Philly challenged the same exact play with Young and Thybulle in Game 1 and they also did not overturn it.

23) Terrible officiating in this game. Also, water is wet and the sky is blue.

24) 22, 8, and 5 for Tobias Harris, who continues to earn every dollar of that contract.

25) 25 for 39 from the foul line isn’t gonna get it done in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Simmons and Howard pull this number down significantly, but Friday night George Hill missed a pair, Embiid missed four, and Harris was only 1-3 from the line. Can’t leave points on the board.