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Hawks try to wrap up postseason berth in Philly

Mar 23, 2011 - 3:10 PM (Sports Network) - Rested and back in the City of Brotherly Love, the Philadelphia 76ers take on a just-as-hungry Atlanta Hawks squad tonight from Wells Fargo Center.

The 76ers went 2-3 on their recent road swing which ended with Saturday's 110-101 loss in Portland. Lou Williams posted 24 points in a reserve role and Thaddeus Young delivered 21 off the bench for Philadelphia, which was aiming for its third straight win and played without veteran Andre Iguodala because of left knee tendinitis. Iguodala is probable for tonight's game and the team is 5-8 without him this season.

Jodie Meeks scored 17 points in the loss to the Blazers.

"They started out shooting it, and we made a run and got close," Sixers coach Doug Collins said of Portland. "We never could get over the top."

Collins' squad is a game ahead of New York for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference and 22-11 at home this season. Philadelphia is 3 1/2 games behind the Hawks for the No. 5 seed and will visit LeBron James and the star-studded Miami Heat on Friday.

Williams is averaging 17.1 points in his past seven games while Meeks is posting 14.4 ppg over the previous 12 for a Sixers team that has gone 33-21 since a dreadful 3-13 start to the 2010-11 campaign. The Sixers began the season 1-4 as the host but have gone 21-7 since.

Atlanta had a chance to lock up a postseason berth last night versus the Chicago Bulls at Philips Arena, only to suffer an embarrassing 114-81 setback to the Eastern Conference's top team. Bulls MVP candidate Derrick Rose scored 30 points on national television.

The Hawks were led by Jeff Teague's 20 points off the bench and got 14 apiece from Josh Smith and Al Horford, who left the game with a hamstring injury and is questionable for tonight.

"Everything that could have gone wrong tonight went wrong," Smith said. "We were bad on our coverages, we didn't help each other. When we play that way we are never going to win games."

Joe Johnson netted 13 points in the finale of a six-game homestand. Atlanta went 3-3 on the residency and lost for the seventh time in 10 tries. The Hawks are 19-16 as the visitor and have dropped back-to-back games on the road. They can clinch a postseason berth for the fourth year in a row with a win tonight.

Atlanta leads the season series with Philadelphia, 2-1, and has won four of the last six meetings between the teams. The Sixers are 15-6 in the previous 21 matchups held in south Philly.