The Philadelphia 76ers have had a tough 2020 NBA Playoffs thus far. They find themselves down 0-3 while battling a Boston Celtics team without their best player in Ben Simmons and they are dealing with other issues that run deeper than just Simmons.
There is one bright spot–for the optimistic of fans–and that is the play of young Shake Milton. The second-year 23-year old guard has been flung into the starting lineup and has had to take on a star in Kemba Walker, and he has held his own in this series.
Milton is averaging 14.7 points and 3.3 assists while being one of the few shooters to actually act like a shooter. He is shooting 8-for-19 from deep in this series which is good for a solid percentage of 42.1%. Not bad for a young and relatively inexperienced player.
He also held Walker to 2-for-6 shooting in Game 3 per NBA Stats. That’s something small in a loss, but it’s something he can build on for his future in the league on the defensive end of the floor.
“I think he’s getting better every single game from Game 1 to Game 3,” said Joel Embiid. “You can tell he’s leaning on the fly and he’s getting better. He’s been doing a good job of just setting everything up and being a point guard and just knocking down shots.”
Learning on the fly is right. While Milton started during the season before the league suspension, that was mostly due to the injuries sustained by Simmons and Josh Richardson. The Sixers then made the major change of making him their starting point guard when they arrived at the bubble in early July. Since then, he has had to battle through turnover issues and his inexperience and he has done so admirably.
The Sixers may have found a pretty solid player for their rotation moving forward if he can continue to improve along the way. His play in this series has been one of the breaths of fresh air in an overall season that has mostly been unenjoyable, to say the least. [lawrence-related id=37087,37081,37068]