The Philadelphia 76ers needed a big boost on Friday night when they took on the Atlanta Hawks on the road. Missing Nic Batum and Kelly Oubre Jr., the Sixers needed somebody to step up and produce off the bench.
That somebody was Danuel House Jr. The veteran out of Texas A&M provided 14 big points off the bench and made plays on both ends of the floor in a 126-116 win over the Hawks on the road in the in-season tournament.
“First of all, obviously, I thought both played extremely hard and impacted the game,” Nurse told reporters after the win. “We kind of decided pregame, Jaden’s (Springer) had a couple good moments. We kind of decided pregame again with a with an explosive guard backcourt that we were facing that we maybe would need his defensive impact in the game and same with House.”
Both House and Springer did a more than solid job of containing that Hawks backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murry.
“I think we told them they were coming early and that kinda gave them some confidence, but they just played the game,” Nurse added. “Let it come to them. Obviously, they were sending people towards Joel (Embiid) mostly, right? And those guys did a good job of finding the open areas and benefited. Either Jaden got the cuts around the rim and House kind of got the kick outs for 3 which is kind of hopefully one of those two things is open when they’re double teaming.”
For House, his playing time has been up and down in Philadelphia. He was in and out of the rotation in the 2022-23 season and that has been the case so far this season. He has remained patient and he has been the ultimate professional.
House told NBC Sports Philadelphia after the win:
It’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint. I made it eight years by being patient and pacing myself, and just waiting till the opportunity presents itself and going out there and showcase what I’m capable of doing. Today is just a stepping stone from here on our for our team. The coaches talked to me, they wanted me to be a little bit more aggressive, and a little bit more assertive. So this game I came out, I didn’t think about it too much, I played with confidence, and then the game came to me naturally.
The Sixers head to Brooklyn to take on the Nets on Sunday afternoon.
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