The Philadelphia 76ers received a big game out of Joel Embiid in order to knock off the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, but they probably don’t win the game without Tobias Harris and his contributions on the offensive end.
After a slow start to the game, Harris finished with 33 points on 12-for-19 shooting, 3-for-3 from deep, and he had 11 rebounds. This was a really good game for him and he gave Embiid some much-needed help. It would have been a shame to see the team waste 42 points from the big fella.
“He was great,” said Embiid of Harris. “It is not about just this game. The last couple games, he’s been finding his spots, and getting back to what he is. Like I said, we’re gonna need that every game from him. He’s been excellent.”
Harris had a big impact in the second quarter as he scored 15 points in the frame. His offense kept the Sixers in it as it looked like the Pelicans would pull away a bit.
“After the first quarter, we kinda just were flat out there,” said Harris. “I just thought that when I was out there with the second group, just try to pick up the energy for the whole group and be able to create some good ball movement. Swing-swing for some shots, some didn’t fall, some did, but once we did get a few to fall, that just led to a domino effect.”
Harris is a guy that likes to play with pace and be able to use his size and speed to be able to get easy looks. The work in the second quarter allowed Philadelphia to get into a groove and help Harris get going a bit.
“We had more pace to our offense,” Harris added. “We had a little bit more spark to us. For me, I was just finding ways to get to my spots out there. Teammates creating good passes for me to make good shots. It’s just an overall thing.”
For coach Doc Rivers, it’s simple: Harris made quick decisions rather than try dancing with the ball.
“Just quicker stuff, quicker decisions,” said Rivers. “When he does it, he has the size and speed advantage. When he doesn’t do it, he allows guys to get into his body, get their hand on the ball, it’s just so night and day when he does it. He’s doing it more. He’s been doing it more the last four or five games, you can feel him getting back to the pace of last year which is important for us.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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