The Philadelphia 76ers are moving Shake Milton into the starting lineup for a reason. He is a guy who can knock down shots and he can help spread the floor on offense.
After a poor performance against the Indiana Pacers, Milton stepped up and drilled the game-winner in a 132-130 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. After going scoreless with three turnovers against Indiana, Milton had 16 points including the big shot late to lift Philadelphia to this big win.
“He’s doing a great job so far being put in the role that he’s in,” said backcourt mate Josh Richardson. “It’s his first year ever really getting minutes so to bounce back from how he played last game which was still OK, but not great, but tonight he came out aggressive and got us into the offense and that shot at the end of the game was huge. I commend him for it. That’s a big shot.”
Josh Richardson on Shake Milton’s shot tonight #Sixers pic.twitter.com/ZhjjKBF57s
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) August 4, 2020
Milton is 23-years old and in his second season out of SMU so this is a big moment for him. The Sixers let this game slip away and let a double-digit lead turn into a deficit before he came to the rescue late.
“I’m happy for him just because, this is his first go-around of doing it on this stage and he’s a great young player,” said Tobias Harris. “He works really hard and this is all about confidence and keeping yourself upright and knowing who you are and tonight he was able to really establish that and make big shots for us so that was key.”
Even Joel Embiid, who got into a little spat with Milton in the opener with the Pacers, had some really high praise for his young point guard.
“I was really happy,” said the big man. “It’s good to be in that situation and hit the game-winner. I’m extremely happy for him. He’s been working really hard this season. It’s showing off and that was a big shot he hit and it gave us the win. I’m extremely happy for him, but we can’t settle. We got to keep going and just keep getting better.”
The confidence that this young man exudes is something that coach Brett Brown really enjoys and why he trusts him so much. Not a lot of players can step up at that moment and really come through in the clutch. Instead, he delivered the biggest shot of his career.
“I thought that the action where the Spurs were collapsing on Joel, just because of that crowd, and the fact that you had somebody who could pass the ball in and make a shot proved to win us the game as a result of Shake’s confidence,” said Brown. “Normally, a lot of people aren’t going to fall in love with that shot, he did and he didn’t hesitate and given his performance in the first game, it’s a great way for him to help us get that win.”
The Sixers now hope that Milton can take this type of performance and continue to build going forward. They take on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday inside the bubble in Orlando. [lawrence-related id=36108,36101,36086]