Philadelphia 76ers guard Shake Milton has had a whirlwind of a ride over the past couple of months. He was firmly in the Sixers rotation at the beginning of the season, but then he suffered an injury in their second game of the season, toiled in the G League, then he returned to play big minutes, then a pandemic happened, and now he’s their official starting point guard.
After an absolute clunker of a game on Saturday in the team’s reopened, Milton had 16 points including the game-winning triple to defeat the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.
Josh Richardson, who spent some time in the G League as a rookie with the Miami Heat, was impressed with how Milton handled himself. That was not an easy thing to do.
“Definitely. Just seeing how much confidence grows,” explained Richardson. “From the preseason to now, he’s a different player. Before the pandemic and everything happened, his confidence was growing at the end of the season so hopefully, we can keep nurturing that because he’s a young player. There’s going to be ups and downs, but if I can stay in his ear, guys can stay in here and just stay positive and keep pushing away then I think we’ll be alright.”
Milton could have wilted. The pressure that the Indiana Pacers sent at him was unforgiving and he did not respond the way that coach Brett Brown and the team expected. However, when one has the confidence that Milton exudes, then anything can happen for you at that point.
“We needed it,” said Brown. “Any time a player cannot make stuff up and they react to what the sport says, he wasn’t guarded. They threw him the ball, and he didn’t think. He just shot it. Shake is an articulate and intelligent young man. The poise and grace he goes about his business with I think was reflected in that moment. He was just very calm and he took a lot of belief in himself and ended up with maybe one of the biggest shots of his career.”
The Sixers will now need Milton to continue to lead the way and continue to step up in big moments. It only gets tougher from here on out for when the playoffs begin on August 17 inside the bubble. His shooting will make a big difference for this team’s title chances. [lawrence-related id=36116,36108,36101]