PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers needed somebody to come off the bench in order to get the job done on Friday against the Dallas Mavericks. The starting lineup was doing all of the heavy lifting led by Joel Embiid and James Harden and the bench unit needed to pitch in.
The Sixers inserted Georges Niang into the game, who was 3-for-14 from deep over the previous two games and he was 0-for-3 from deep in the first half on Friday before finally coming alive in the third quarter in a 111-101 win over the Mavericks.
Niang knocked down three triples in the third quarter and he added another one in the fourth for good measure as Philadelphia was able to pull away late and get the win.
“What you love about Georges, he drowns out any other noise,” said coach Doc Rivers. “Georges can miss 50 straight shots, and then he’s going to take the next one. It’s a great lesson for everyone because Georges can shoot. That’s what his job is…Georges struggled in Cleveland, struggled the game before, struggled the first half tonight, and he didn’t hesitate, so I think that’s a great lesson for everyone.”
When Niang is able to knock down shots the way he did on Friday, that makes life easier for everybody. The defense has to pay attention to him, especially for a guy like Embiid.
“I was happy because the last two games, I’ve been on him about how he’s missed a bunch of wide-open ones and he hasn’t been shooting a good percentage so I’ve been missing with him a lot off the court about him not being able to shoot the basketball,” said Embiid. “So it’s good to see especially in that fourth quarter.”
Niang has been a big key to Philadelphia’s bench unit so when he able to bust out of his slump the way he did, that’s a big help for both him and the team.
“It felt good,” said Niang. “Obviously, it feels good when shots go in. I work extremely hard at what I do, and, obviously, I was frustrated the last two games not to make shots I usually make. So, tonight to see those go in is something that I enjoyed and I’m just happy that we got the win against a really good Dallas team.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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