The Philadelphia 76ers were locked in a tight battle with the Washington Wizards on the road late in the third quarter on Halloween night, but they ended the quarter on a big 18-2 run.
That effort allowed Philadelphia to earn a 118-111 win, its third in a row. Philadelphia has evened its record at 4 following the tough start.
A big reason the Sixers produced such a big run was the contribution from their bench. Georges Niang had 12 points spanning the third and fourth quarters, and Montrezl Harrell added seven points in the third.
“I thought the end of the third, fourth quarter was huge with that Tyrese (Maxey) group on the floor,” coach Doc Rivers told reporters. “I don’t even know who was out there. Georges was part of it, Trez, I thought that was a huge stretch for us. That got us a bigger lead, stretched the game open for us. Then just look into scoring in the first unit. Everyone touched the ball. That’s how we have to play.”
The play of Niang and Harrell was the type of performance Rivers would like to see more of going forward.
“It was huge,” Rivers added. “Third quarters are huge. They always have been. When you can come out and stretch a game in the third quarter, it changes the dynamic of the game. I would love us to be that type of team.”
When it comes to that bench group and allowing them to have success, Rivers is stressing simplicity at the moment. Just go out there and run the same sets over and over again to grow their unit.
“It was huge,” the coach finished. “We kept it simple. We ran two sets and variations of the same set. We knew when James was off the floor, they would have a major focus on Tyrese. They did. He made the right plays.”
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