The Philadelphia 76ers needed somebody to step up and replace what Joel Embiid brings to the table when they visited the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. With the Sixers missing Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris and others, Paul Reed took advantage.
Reed delivered a career-high 30 points on 14-for-21 shooting with 13 rebounds as Philadelphia fell to the Nuggets, 111-105. Reed was so good he drew a shoutout from Denver star Nikola Jokic after the game.
While the big numbers are, obviously, impressive, Reed was doing his best to help the Sixers try and get a win. That’s all one can ask of him. It just required scoring on Saturday.
“It felt good,” Reed told reporters. “It felt like at the end of the day going out there and trying to win got to do whatever it takes to try and win, that was my mindset.”
Coach Nick Nurse and the Sixers have been preaching to Reed that “less is more” meaning he doesn’t have to try and do too much. They just want him to play his game and play to his strengths.
He did so on Saturday. He took the little mid-range jumpers the Nuggets gave him, and he played energetic basketball on both ends of the floor.
“Paul Reed was really good,” Nurse said. “He was really confident, taking everything that was available to him and absolutely looking at the basket on everything. They are probably not going to guard him that much at the 3-point line so he ends up knocking a couple down and made some good, tough finishes and made a few jump shots and again just took everything that was given to him.”
The biggest impact Reed made offensively was in the pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop game with Patrick Beverley. He normally does that with Tyrese Maxey in the second quarter of games, but with Maxey out, it was him and Beverley and they ran it to perfection all night long.
“He makes the game a lot easier for me, not going to lie,” Reed said of Beverley. “I know he has the floater, that is automatic when we are in the pick-and-roll. It is like either one of us is going to score, it is like me and Maxey. Maxey is either going to get to the cup or dime me. Playing with those two guys makes the game extremely easy for me.”
If Embiid can’t go on Monday against the Portland Trail Blazers, then the Sixers will need Reed to step up and produce again in his place at a high level.
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