Philadelphia 76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz is normally not a guy who is going to give a lot in other areas of the game other than scoring. He is a player who focuses on giving the Sixers a lift off the bench in both scoring and with his shooting.
However, in Monday’s 133-113 win over the Houston Rockets, Korkmaz accomplished something for the first time in his five years in the NBA: he recorded a double-double.
Korkmaz had 24 points and he had 11 rebounds as he was able to accomplish something he never had done before. He was happy about it, but the bigger picture is the win and that’s what matters the most.
“It feels a lot, but at the same time, it doesn’t mean anything because right now, I just need to keep going,” said Korkmaz. “Of course, it feels good to help the team in the game especially when the guys are down. I was one of those guys who stepped up today. That’s why I’m happy about it, but like I said, it means a lot, but it doesn’t mean a lot.”
The Rockets are a team that is long and they have a lot of size so the fact that Korkmaz was able to get in there and make a difference on the glass was a big help to this team on Monday.
“When you start grabbing the rebounds, some of them come to you, sometimes you’re just in paint,” he explained. “I think today most of our guys boxed out, especially Houston, they’re a really huge offensive rebounding team. That allows me to be more focused on defensive rebounding because I was grabbing more.”
Acting coach Dan Burke was happy with what he saw from Korkmaz as he got an opportunity to contribute more with Matisse Thybulle being in the health and safety protocols.
“That’s what happens in these types of games and when people are in or out and people get different opportunities, new opportunities,” said Burke. “You can find more about your team and so Furk was big.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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