The Philadelphia 76ers started sluggishly defensively on Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings on the road. They were able to score the ball, but they were really only getting offense from a few sources in the first half.
In the starting unit, Ben Simmons and Seth Curry seemed to be the only ones in a rhythm early on and they also got some much-needed help from Furkan Korkmaz off the bench.
Curry had 16 points at halftime and he knocked down a couple of 3-pointers to keep Philadelphia within striking distance while the Kings were hot early. He finished with 22 and shot 4-for-6 from deep.
“He kind of saved us in that first half,” said coach Doc Rivers. “It’s funny, it looked like him and Ben were only two that had good rhythm, early on, and it was good that our team recognized that. Even Joel (Embiid), and Joel hadn’t shot the ball in a couple of times and he runs down and he runs a loop to, which is one of our sets for Seth.”
Being the point guard, Simmons recognized that and he wanted to make sure he got his sharpshooter involved in the offense. That then set the tone for everybody else to follow as Embiid and Tobias Harris got going in the second half in order to get the win.
“It’s huge,” Simmons said of Curry. “He’s a big part of this team. When he comes out firing and hitting shots like that, it’s great, you want to get him into a rhythm. When everyone’s feeling good out there and making shots and getting stops defensively, it’s enjoyable and guys want to go out there and play defense and then lead to breaks and push the ball.”
It’s good that the whole Sixers team has that mentality of getting others involved. Curry is not the star of the team, but he is important and he had the hot hand early and Philadelphia made sure they got him the ball.
“That just tells you where the team is at right now,” Rivers added. “They see a got it going, they feed him, and they want him to keep it going. That was a great sign.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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