PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers have won seven of their past nine games while Joel Embiid, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey have all missed some time out on the floor. Philadelphia has gotten some terrific production out of others and that could leave some tough decisions for coach Doc Rivers.
Whenever Harden and Maxey do return to the floor, that begs the question of what happens with Shake Milton. The veteran out of SMU is averaging 22.4 points, 7.6 assists, and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 55.3% from the floor and 52.4% from deep. One has to believe that Milton will factor into the rotation somehow.
“I don’t mind tough decisions,” said Rivers. “I’d rather have those than not, but we knew that coming into the year. We have a lot of guys who are not gonna play. It’s just impossible, but we can play a lot of them and that’ll help us. Especially, in back-to-back games where you can put a second group on the floor, and hopefully, increase the lead or not lose the lead. That helps you the next night.”
Then there is Furkan Korkmaz and Danuel House Jr. who have both flashed some really nice moments over this recent stretch. Both of them were terrific in recent road games in Orlando under tough circumstances.
“I think it’ll be tough and the guys, I think the most proud I am of our guys, the guys who were not playing because Furk wasn’t playing a lot, Shake was starting to play so he was starting to get his rhythm before, Danuel House wasn’t getting a lot of minutes, not consistent, they all stayed ready,” Rivers added. “That’s really important because it’s hard.”
The biggest key for the Sixers is going to be getting the same production out of these guys when they go back to their regular roles.
“Shake has been phenomenal,” Rivers finished. “Furk has been phenomenal. Danuel House was phenomenal in the second half and that’s great. I think with all these guys out and our guys are playing, this is gonna make our team better, for sure. Furk has great confidence. We want him to keep playing the same way. The key for us and I always say is can we play the same way when everybody’s back, and that’ll be a key for us.”
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