The Philadelphia 76ers have one of the more formidable starting units in the NBA led by the star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. That unit averages 123.8 points per 100 possessions per Cleaning the Glass so it is clear that the unit has had success.
However, the bench unit has struggled mightily, especially over the previous two games. They were badly outplayed in Saturday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns and they only had one assist as a group in Thursday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
The team is missing Shake Milton who averages 14.0 points off the bench. He suffered a left ankle sprain in the first game of the road trip against the Sacramento Kings and the team has struggled since then. It has put a lot of pressure on rookie Tyrese Maxey to come in and produce.
“Ball movement,” said veteran Mike Scott who returned Saturday after missing 13 games. “We got to be able to get off of it and continue to play the second side. With Shake being out, that definitely hurts. It puts a lot of pressure on rook to come in and try to run a team. With Shake being out, it’s kind of tough because he’s one of our main go-to guys off the bench.”
Even with Milton out, the Sixers have got to find some offense to help the starters. It can’t be just those five players trying to win games, it has to be other guys who can step up and give them a boost when needed.
“With him out, we got to be able to make up for that,” Scott added. “Move the ball side to side. Get some variety, can’t have the ball stick, especially in our unit. We got to play fast.”
The Sixers will finish up the trip on Monday night when they take on the Utah Jazz. They will need the bench unit to help give them something against the best team in the Western Conference, currently.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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