"Sports is a business that loves catchphrases and clichés, so when we say three was the magic number again for the Sixers on Friday night, think third quarter and De La Soul.

In the first two quarters against the Hawks, the Sixers looked out of sync, at best. Couple that with Atlanta making shots in the proverbial "yard" (outside the paint but inside the three-point line, the desired location for majority of opponents' shot attempts) and the Sixers found themselves down 47-39 at the half.

In the 14 games prior to this contest, the Sixers had won 11 third quarters by a combined margin of 384-290.

Fast forward now to Friday night's halftime discussion, after the Hawks had shot 50 percent from the floor in the first two quarters and 40 percent from three.

"We definitely got yelled at," Jrue Holiday said.

Whatever the means of motivation to do things differently, it worked. The Sixers proceeded to outscore Atlanta 25-10 in the 12 minutes following intermission. They held the Hawks to 23.5 percent shooting, including 1 of 6 from three. They also had eight points off six turnovers.

The Sixers' third-quarter defense was a work of art."