ATLANTA – At the end of a close game, sometimes you just need your star player to take the lead. Jalen Johnson, who has been a star for the Atlanta Hawks all year, came on late in the fourth quarter to lead his team to a 125-116 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
It started with a three-pointer midway through the fourth that gave the Hawks their largest lead of the game, eight points. Down the stretch, he drove past Kelly Oubre Jr. and dunked over him and Dominic Barlow.
Jalen taking over in the fourth 💥 pic.twitter.com/Yq3bMvDKC1
- Atlanta HaWWWWWWWks (@ATLHawks) 8 March 2026
With less than two minutes left, Adem Bona became his next victim, as he went behind him and got to the rim to complete a one-handed dunk.
Jalen Johnson y'all pic.twitter.com/UbOitpTQPm
- Atlanta HaWWWWWWWks (@ATLHawks) 8 March 2026
After every one of those shots, he made sure to let the crowd – and the 76ers – know that he kicked it up a notch. The younger generation can call it aura farming. Some people would even say that he was locked in that part. As for Johnson, he says this is nothing new for him, and it led to him finishing with 35 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
"I feel like I'm always off," Johnson told reporters after the game. "Obviously, when the pace is up, you come in and you're running. There are a lot more emotions going on than at the beginning of the game. So maybe the emotional part of it feels more like a trap."
Johnson has shown what he can do in these moments at the end of games. Whether it's hitting a clutch jump shot, making the perfect pass, or outrunning the opposition, he knows how to break down defenses using his skills.
“He's making the right play, and sometimes the right play is hitting Dyson a little bit [Daniels]. Sometimes it's just coming to the rim. And sometimes when people are messing with you it takes your jumper. I think he did all those things, and he did them really skillfully. I think it's one of his best games,” Quin Snyder said.
Even his colleagues were impressed by his work.
“It was amazing,” Nichelle Alexander-Walker said. "Just aggression, he played with determination. Going downhill, didn't calm down. It was very timely and at a time when we needed it. He just kept rolling, and we were all behind him."
The Hawks didn't get off to a good start and had to prepare to get to that point. They surrendered 73 points and committed 19 turnovers in the first half. The second half was completely different, as they held the 76ers to 43 points and turned the ball over 10 times.
"It was about taking people out of their rhythm," Alexander-Walker said. "We've worked up to this point to become a better team competitively and just defensively. I thought we took a step back in the first half, but then we made up for it quickly, and we were able to adjust right away."
"It was a good halftime," Johnson said. "Guys talked, and we knew we'd eventually get on our run. We came out of the gate, and we came out aggressive and swinging. We laid the tone in those first few minutes of the third quarter for how the rest of the game was going to be."
Once the Hawks found their rhythm in the fourth, the ball was passed to Johnson and out of the way. Unfortunately, the 76ers didn't get the memo.
"I just knew what to expect from them, being an aggressive defensive team, and I tried to match that as best I could and let things fall in there," Johnson said.
With this win, the Hawks have won six games in a row, and have an opportunity to extend that streak next week with the Dallas Mavericks.
