The Philadelphia 76ers had a rough restart opener on Saturday night as they fell to the Indiana Pacers and the scoring dynamo that is T.J. Warren, but one bright spot for the Sixers was the play of Alec Burks.
Burks came in and scored nine points and he knocked down all three of his shots from deep. It is that type of ability that Philadelphia needs off their bench to be able to get to the next level. On top of that, his defense against Aaron and Justin Holiday all night long which was encouraging.
“I thought he came in, he looked cocky, he had the ball at times, we ran him as a 2 off screens, I thought he looked good,” said coach Brett Brown. “Then you get into like ‘You need to stalk the Holiday brothers around’. I thought his defense was pretty good. He did have a few turnovers like a lot of us had that were kind of careless passes to an elbow or trying to go behind the back pocket pass on a pick-and-roller, but I feel like Alec had a good seven or eight days at camp.”
Burks did have four turnovers so that is the one eyesore for everyone to see, but at the end of the day, his turnovers were easy to correct and he just needs to calm down and continue to learn his role a bit more. He just needs to continue to grow within this Sixers team and he will be able to become a more consistent contributor.
“I think we had a lot of turnovers. I think turnovers led to easy baskets,” said Burks. “If we improve on that, I think the game will be different. I guess a lot of them were trying to be too fast. I think we were looking for the extra pass too much. I think we should have been more aggressive in certain situations.”
When the playoffs begin, the Sixers will be relying on Burks much more off their bench. Mainly, they look at him as a guy who needs to put the ball in the basket and can give the team a spark when they need it. He needs to embrace all of that.
“Last night, he looked good, he scored, and it’s always on my mind to continue to grow his role as it relates to lightning in a bottle,” said Brown. “Somebody who can come in and get buckets quick. Especially as it relates to a playoff environment.”
Philadelphia will need more out of Burks and everybody else when they take on the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. [lawrence-related id=35999,35990,35982]