The Philadelphia 76ers picked up a 105-95 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday to improve to 4-0 on this five-game road trip. They have been absolutely terrific on the floor and are becoming the team a lot of prognosticators thought they’d become.
The Sixers have been making some tweaks to their lineups as they continue to figure things out on the floor. Coach Doc Rivers has made a lineup change by moving Tyrese Maxey to a bench role and having him run things with Shake Milton, Georges Niang and Montrezl Harrell for that second group.
On Thursday, Philadelphia received 41 points off the bench as Maxey had 15, Milton poured in 10 and Niang had nine. That is the type of production the Sixers will take on a regular basis.
“That second unit did it again,” Rivers told reporters. “They made a huge run for us. They did it in the second quarter, did it again late, so they’re finding their rhythm. We have set plays for them that they like. We called the one late for Georges and got him a 3, so they’re really doing a great job of executing and giving our guys lower minutes which has been huge for us.”
Rivers revealed after the win over the Los Angeles Lakers on the trip that the team would use three starting lineups the rest of the season. However, he has just gone with De’Anthony Melton in the starting lineup and has Maxey as a Sixth Man.
At this point, this might be the best way to do things. Maxey can be that sparkplug off the bench and he can lead that second group. Their play affords the starters to be able to get their rest and the Sixers will be able to continue to grow as a unit.
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