The Philadelphia 76ers are dealing with an injury to one of their important pieces in veteran Danny Green. The Sixers need his shooting, as well as the invaluable experience and wisdom that he brings to the team and the team will need to count on others to step up.
The Sixers have quite a few players they can count on off their bench and they have been able to contribute in these playoffs thus far. From rookie Tyrese Maxey to Shake Milton to Furkan Korkmaz and they will need to continue their productivity with Green out for the time being.
“It’s one of the deepest teams I’ve been on,” said veteran George Hill who will also factor into things. “Normally, in the playoffs, coaches normally shrink a roster, but it’s hard to shrink the roster when you got so many guys who can contribute the way they do. It’s been a blessing for our team.”
Hill is right. Normally a coach will shrink his rotation a bit in order to get more time out on the floor for their starters. In this case, coach Doc Rivers has continued to roll with a deeper rotation in order to get the most out of his bench when the time calls for it.
“It’s been great and it’s some of the unintended good consequences of having injuries during the regular season,” said Rivers. “We’ve had so many guys out with Seth (Curry) and Joel (Embiid) and Tobias (Harris) and Ben (Simmons), your key guys and different guys from the bench have been in the starting lineup so I think that serves us well.”
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The deep rotation has come in handy at times. When Milton had a rough Round 1, Rivers was able to turn to Maxey and he played very well in that series. Then, in Round 2, when the rookie has shown some struggles, they have turned back to Milton a bit and he has played well as he has earned his rotation spot back.
“It’s also one of the things I said before the playoffs started when everyone was talking about rotations and eight guys,” Rivers continued. “I said the reason you play a deep rotation as long as you can is because you’re going to need someone at some point, to come in, whether they’re because someone’s not playing well, or because of injury and we’ve had a little bit of both of those things.”
It has served Philadelphia well in the postseason. Milton had 14 points in their Game 2 win over the Atlanta Hawks and then Korkmaz hopped off the bench and poured in 14 points of his own. Those two will see more time as the playoffs continue amid Green’s injury and that is a testament to the two of them staying ready for the moment.
“Really just staying locked into the game,” said Matisse Thybulle. “We’re professionals for a reason, you got to be ready at the drop of a hat. I think the most impressive thing is watching the guys when you have a blowout or if a bunch of guys like Furk has or someone comes off the bench in the fourth quarter and has to play. That’s where it gets really special.”
The ability of the bench to come in and produce will serve the Sixers will in the long run when they need their starters to play heavy minutes deeper into the postseason.
“I think it’s going to help us in the long run that we can get our main guys a little bit more rest so they’re healthier, full of energy later in the postseason,” Hill added. “I like what I’m seeing. It’s been great so far.”
Philadelphia will look to take a 3-1 lead on the series when they take on the Hawks Monday in Game 4 of their series.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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