The Philadelphia 76ers were able to come away with a thrilling 129-127 win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night to complete one helluva road trip. They were a perfect 5-0 on the trip and they were able to complete it without Joel Embiid and James Harden in the lineup on Saturday.
Tyrese Maxey will get all of the headlines after he put up 32 points with six assists including scoring 15 in the third quarter to really change things for the Sixers, but Georges Niang was terrific off the bench.
The Minivan had 17 points and six rebounds and he knocked down three triples on five attempts. It wrapped up a road trip for him where he averaged 10.8 points and shot 52.4% from deep over the final four games of the trip.
“He’s just making timely shots,” coach Doc Rivers told reporters. “He was out and we drew up that play and I asked him in the timeout; ‘are you loose enough up to make a shot now?’ And he of course said yes because that’s what he would say anyway, but then I asked again because he knew.”
Rivers is referring to a huge play late after the Kings were trying to regain control. De’Aaron Fox drove into the lane for a layup which brought Sacramento to within 120-119 with 2:04 left. Rivers called for time and he inserted Niang into the game to set him up for a huge triple to give Philadelphia some cushion late.
“I was like ‘Georges we’re going to run this play and you’re going to be open, but if you’re not ready, we’ll put someone else in that spot.’ And he said, ‘I will be ready to shoot the ball.’” Rivers added. “That’s why he turned around and started pointing at the bench as only Georges does.”
Niang has been a huge part of the success the Sixers are having at the moment and if he can continue to shoot like this off the bench, Philadelphia will be in a very good spot to compete for a title.
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