CAMDEN, N.J. — As the Philadelphia 76ers prepare to take on the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday to end a seven-game homestand, the focus has been on the improved play of Joel Embiid and James Harden, but the bench unit has quietly been playing better.
For the season, the Sixers rank 28th in bench scoring (27.4 ppg), but they have gained more scoring out of the bench unit recently.
For example, they received double digits from Georges Niang and Montrezl Harrell in their win on Wednesday, and they also received nine points each from Shake Milton and Danuel House Jr. Now, Philadelphia will work Furkan Korkmaz back into the rotation.
“To be honest, I don’t know like what turned on for us, but I think everybody’s getting higher confidence,” Korkmaz said. “Especially, our star players supporting us more. When we get into the game, they to put us into actions to get us open looks, and I think the flow.”
In terms of what allows the bench unit to succeed, Korkmaz threw out a word that has become very popular around these parts: pace.
“The pace,” he added. “When the pace goes up, the second unit plays much better, but when we slow down, I don’t think the second unit is just like, ‘Give me the ball. I’m gonna score 30 points’ type of players. I don’t think we don’t have that type of players and we just need to keep playing as a team and play easy basketball. I think that’s going to be the key.”
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