The Philadelphia 76ers are severely shorthanded at the moment. They are missing one of the game’s bright stars in Ben Simmons who will be out for a little bit after suffering a subluxation in his left knee. So in these times, they need others to step up.
That’s exactly what they got on Friday night when they received 22 points off the bench from Alec Burks. The 6-foot-6 guard from Colorado went to work all night as he was aggressive from the jump and he was tough to stop all night long in a 108-101 win over the Orlando Magic.
“When you ask ‘what did he do?’, his ability to dance out of the pick-and-roll,” said coach Brett Brown. “The notion that defensive players probably go over on him more than under lets rolling opportunities happen more frequently and so you just feel confident in something as simple as a space pick-and-roll and or Jo (Joel Embiid) in it, roll Joel, let Alec dance, and space some shooters, it was a clean, simple environment that I thought that he really was excellent.”
Burks’ ability to put the ball in the basket on his own is a huge factor in him playing more than he normally would. Especially considering the team is missing Ben Simmons, they need somebody who can go out and create for himself as well as others.
“Alec, he just has that ability to score in bunches and we need that,” said Al Horford. “We just need to keep him involved and put him in positions where he can help us.”
Burks was playing so well that he forced Brown to change up his rotation plan. He played deep into the fourth quarter with the game on the line and he was the one who got the time instead of starting point guard Shake Milton
“It got to a stage where, and I’d like to go in six or scene minute clumps with him, you want to keep those fresh bodies on the floor,” said Brown. “It got to a stage for me where he was playing that well that I continued giving him minutes and did bit bring Shake back in a normal rotation that I have been looking at.”
Burks is a guy who is more comfortable putting the ball in the basket more than running an offense per se, but when Brown put the ball in his hands, he was comfortable running the pick-and-roll no matter who he was running it with.
“I think my skillset adjusts well to play great in a pick-and-roll where I can read the defense,” Burks explained. “I’m just trying to thrive in that and help in any way I can.”
Either way, he was a major contributor in a third straight Sixers win on Friday night.
“I think he was a major contributor to the win, he was our bell ringer tonight,” Brown finished with. “We need him doing those types of things going forward.” [lawrence-related id=36419,36409,36385]