PHILADELPHIA — The Wells Fargo Center crowd was rooting Tobias Harris on to go for 40. The veteran out of Tennessee was stuck on 37 points late in the fourth quarter and the Sixers were up by a big margin.
Everybody in the building knew that he was going to be taken out. Philadelphia had a victory over the Sacramento Kings in hand and there wasn’t any reason to leave him out there.
So Harris forced some shots trying to appease the Sixers fans in the building. He missed a triple, then a mid-range jumper, and then he missed two more triples before coach Nick Nurse subbed him out in a 112-93 victory over the Kings. Harris had to settle for the 37 points.
“It was fun hearing the crowd chant,” Harris smiled after the win. “It was a lot of fun. I wish it was a closer game because then I probably would’ve got it. Like once it was forced? The lesson of the story is don’t force it. Just let it flow because then I was like ‘I ain’t forcing for a 40’. I wanted it! But it didn’t happen and at that point, I was like OK.”
Even when Harris was sunned out with 3:13 left in the game, the Wells Fargo Center crowd chanted “We want Tobi!” in a plea to Nurse to get him back in the game in order for another attempt at 40 points. His teammates were pushing him to do so as well.
“I think all the guys on the team,” Harris added. “They were like ‘Why didn’t you get to the middy?’ and I was like ‘To be honest, I thought coach was ready to pull me out of there so I was like man, this is the one!’, but looking back, I would’ve changed it up a little bit. Overall, for myself personally, to have big nights like that are important confident-wise, game-wise, preparation.”
Regardless of coming up short for 40 points, Harris and the Sixers picked up the win. That’s all that matters and Philadelphia was able to put an end to the 3-game skid they were on.
“I think bigger than all of it is the way we played tonight to get the victory in that type of fashion,” Harris finished. “I thought that the whole group. Everybody on the team was out there playing an effective role tonight to help us and that’s what we need from the group. That type of energy where guys are wanting me—that to me means more than anything. I love playing with this group of guys and for us to be able to come out, handle our business was a lot of fun.”
[lawrence-related id=88998,88995,88991]