Though the lead got to as many as 36 points in the third quarter, Collins did not want his team to rest on its laurels. After Williams swished a three-pointer late in the third to make it 85-51, Collins screamed at his players - "Six straight scores. Six straight scores." His point was that the Hawks had scored in each of their prior six possessions. When the Sixers held Atlanta scoreless on the next one, Collins was as happy as he'd been at any point of the game.
At another point, after rookie Evan Turner made a nice jump pass to Thaddeus Young under the basket, resulting in two free throws, Collins shouted at Turner to tell him he had made a nice pass. Turner, though, didn't respond to Collins' shouts. The coach then told Holiday to tell his teammate to look over at his coach or he was coming out of the game.