76ers handle Hawks, reach .500 after third straight win

PHILADELPHIA — Robert Covington scored 22 points and Ben Simmons fell one assist short of a triple-double as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Atlanta Hawks 119-109 on Wednesday night to reach .500 for the first time in four years.Joel Embiid finished with 21 points and Simmons had 19, along with 13 rebounds and nine assists, for Philadelphia, which won its third straight to improve to 4-4.The Sixers were last at the break-even mark when they were 4-4 on Nov. 11, 2013. The winning streak is their first of that length since Feb. 9-13, 2017.The Sixers outscored the Hawks 26-16 in the fourth quarter, limiting the Hawks to 25 percent shooting (5 of 20).Atlanta, which fell to an Eastern Conference-worst 1-7 with its seventh straight loss, didn’t have a point in the first 5:21 of the quarter and didn’t make its first field goal until 5:38 remained in the game.Dennis Schroder scored 25 points to lead the Hawks, and Taurean Prince added 17 points and 11 rebounds.The Sixers made their first six 3-point attempts, five as they opened leads of 25-8 and 27-10 early in the game.Atlanta then began attacking the basket with success, outscoring Philadelphia 32-16 on points in the paint in the half, including 20-10 in the second quarter.Schroder was the main culprit. He scored 10 points as the Hawks sliced the deficit to 59-57 at the half, and his three-point play with 9:39 left in the third quarter gave Atlanta its first lead at 64-63.Moments later, the Hawks reeled off nine straight points, four of those by Prince, to go up 73-66.Philadelphia, sparked by its bench, rallied to forge a 93-93 tie by the end of the quarter. Simmons scored eight points in the late flurry and backup guard T.J. McConnell knotted it on a layup with 1.5 seconds left.NOTES: Earlier in the day, Sixers C Jahlil Okafor told reporters that he would welcome a trade or buyout after the team declined Tuesday to pick up his fourth-year option. “The frustration that Jahlil has, I get,” coach Brett Brown said. “I understand that. I don’t begrudge him at all. … He’s a good person, he is a talent, and I’m going to continue to coach him until somebody tells me I’m not.” … Philadelphia continues to be without G Markelle Fultz, the top overall pick in this year’s draft. He missed his fourth straight game with a shoulder injury, and the team announced Sunday he would be out indefinitely. … The Hawks were again without F Ersan Ilyasova (knee), F DeAndre’ Bembry (broken wrist) and C Miles Plumlee (strained quadriceps).