PHILADELPHIA–When one looks at the box score of the Philadelphia 76ers knocking off the Phoenix Suns 100-88 on Monday, they are going to see Suns star Devin Booker had 28 points on 8-for-16 shooting.
If one did not watch the game, one would think that Booker had an easy night and beat up on the Sixers pretty easily. However, De’Anthony Melton made his life pretty tough throughout the whole night.
Booker scored because Booker is just an elite scorer. There isn’t a lot that he can’t do on the floor on the offensive end and he proved that on Monday scoring through being harassed by Melton throughout the night.
“He’s a monster defensively,” said Joel Embiid. “He’s got such great hands. He’s physical. I don’t even know what to say. He’s amazing.”
With the Sixers being so shorthanded and they had trouble getting into their sets on the offensive end all night long, they needed somebody to step up and provide some energy and effort on the defensive end. Melton was that guy against Booker.
“De’Anthony was great,” added Tobias Harris. “I just think, all night, his presence was felt on the defensive end. Whether it’s him scramming time after time if we did get beat, but his ball pressure was awesome. We know D-Book is gonna get good looks and he’s a scorer and he’s gonna get shots.”
That’s the key. Booker is going to get his looks. The Sixers know that sometimes it won’t even matter what they do, but Melton battled and he was able to make Booker’s life tough in order to contribute to a Sixers win.
“I thought the biggest thing was every look that he got needed to be contested and a harder look than just an easy pull-up or easy plays,” Harris added. “I think De’Anthony did a great job of being in his air space and making him take tough looks time after time.”
Melton and the Sixers will have another tough matchup on Thursday when they take on an Atlanta Hawks team with a ton of offensive firepower.
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