The Philadelphia 76ers needed somebody to close the game out on Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings on the road. They were in need of some perimeter scoring and they found it in the form of Tobias Harris.
The veteran out of Tennessee stepped up big time in the fourth quarter scoring 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting and he knocked down both of his triples on his way to finishing with 22 points and 10 rebounds. He came up huge in the final stanza when his team needed it the most.
“It’s huge,” said Ben Simmons. “He’s capable of a lot offensively. He’s come a long way defensively also, but he knows what he’s capable of especially in those moments. He’s been great and trying to get him into his spots and get a little bit of rhythm going. He was big tonight.”
This has been an ongoing trend for Harris as he has begun to really morph into the team’s closer down the stretch of games. It is really just a matter of doing everything he possibly can to help the team win some games when they need him.
“Fourth quarter time, I just wanted to do whatever I can to help the team win,” Harris explained. “That was my whole focus in the fourth, just eye on the prize of winning this game. I was able to get to my spots on the floor. I was able to find the energy that I needed on the defensive end and try to be in there getting rebounds and encouraging everyone else on the court at the time to stay mentally engaged in the game.”
Harris, as well as Joel Embiid scoring 10 points in the final quarter, will have to be a star tandem in order to get some things done in the playoffs. They weren’t having their best games through the first three quarters, but when it mattered most in the fourth, they both found a way to get the job done.
“They let it come to them,” said coach Doc Rivers. “It’s interesting, at halftime, I think we have what 66 points or 60 points or something like that, we’re shooting 52%, and yet you can feel the frustration like the ball wasn’t moving, we didn’t get the ball to the right guys, and I said guys take a deep breath. We have 60 points and shooting almost 50%. This is pretty good.”
Even with those numbers, they were trailing the game 71-66 so they still needed to dig deep to be able to come away with a win.
“Just doing whatever was needed for a W,” Harris said calmly.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
https://embed.sendtonews.com/oembed/?SC=zFfB1WC9QE-1148615-7498&autoplay=on&V=2&format=json
[lawrence-related id=42339,42335,42331]