The Philadelphia 76ers were down a couple of their big players when they entered the Motor City on Thursday to take on the Detroit Pistons to begin a two-game road trip. Down Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Furkan Korkmaz, and Isaiah Joe, they needed somebody to step up and lead the way.
Normally, that would be Joel Embiid, but the big fella has been struggling shooting the ball and that continued on Thursday. So, they then went to the guy who has been on fire as of late and that has been Seth Curry.
Curry scored 16 points in the first quarter on his way to 23 for the game to lead Philadelphia to a 109-98 win over the Pistons. His big first quarter was huge for a team that was on the second night of a back-to-back that needed a bit of a spark.
“The ball’s just been finding me,” said Curry. “I try to play the same way, just start the game with a lot of ball movement, and got some stops, some good pace, up and down the floor. The ball’s just finding me and I’m being aggressive and knocking down shots. It’s just the way it’s been.”
Coach Doc Rivers even acknowledged that his sharpshooting guard was huge to begin the game. Detroit looked like they were using their youth and energy to be able to go out and push themselves ahead, but Curry being able to knock down shots helped Philadelphia move ahead.
“Oh man, he’s huge,” said Rivers. “Just with his shooting. Then the rest of the game, they overreacted so much to Seth that that got Georges (Niang) open.”
With that being said, one can maybe assume that Rivers told him that he has to take on more responsibility. He said that was not the case in this one.
“We don’t do it,” said Rivers. “We keep them in their roles and we got to them. Seth knows he’s one of our go-to guys, but I don’t ever try to tell a guy you need to do more because that means he’ll try to do too much.”
Curry and the Sixers will wrap up the two-game trip with a rematch with the Chicago Bulls on Saturday before returning home for a 3-game homestand.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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