Atlanta, Georgia – The Philadelphia 76ers have finally taken a series advantage in the Eastern Conference semifinals over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.

as he led the Sixers to a 127-111 win in game three, taking the series lead in the process.

Embiid led his team with 27 points and nine boards, showing any doubters that he can still play at a high level, even if he’s not at 100%.

With Friday night’s win, Philly returned the favor to Atlanta by neutralizing the Hawks’ home-court advantage, the same as what went down in the first two games.

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As the East’s best team this season, the Sixers showed the Hawks some of their best basketball during game three. There was offense aplenty in this game from both teams, but the Hawks couldn’t keep up with the Sixers after Atlanta let a small lead disappear towards the end of the first quarter. The Hawks quickly found themselves playing catch-up for the rest of the game.

The third quarter became an all-out runaway for Philly, but that was mainly due to the Sixers tightening up their defense to hold the Hawks to 19 points, their lowest total in a quarter for the game. From that point, catching up seemed more like climbing a mountain for the Hawks.

Trae Young still put in a decent night’s work for Atlanta, leading all scorers with 28 points and eight assists, while John Collins scored 23 points.

The Sixers are now locked in and seem primed to roll on to take this series, wrapping things up possibly in a game five back at home. They controlled the flow of game three from the first quarter and eventually built a comfortable lead that got as high as 20 during the latter stages of the game.

If they can keep up this level of play, and if Embiid can power through the pain game after game, they’ll send the Hawks flying back home empty-handed in no time.

Game four between these two teams is on Monday night, back in Atlanta.