Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris has been the subject of fan criticism lately as he has not been playing the way they expect of him due to the big contract he possesses. It was a rough game for him on Monday as he admitted frustrations boiled over, but he bounced back on Wednesday.
Harris put up 22 points on 9-for-19 shooting and he knocked down three triples on six attempts in a 116-106 win over the Orlando Magic on the road. It was a nice performance for him despite all of the outside noise he has been hit with in recent days.
“I loved it,” said coach Doc Rivers. “He played quicker. There was no hesitation. When you get into a funk, you hesitate on everything, and then it’s too late. We showed him and talked about it tonight because that’s what he has been doing. Go, just attack and I thought every time he did that, it was good for us.”
Harris was aggressive from the start and even though he missed his first couple of attempts, it was still good to see him continue to attack. He was then able to get into a rhythm and have a solid game.
“He was great,” said Joel Embiid. “I have a lot of trust in my teammates whether they’re playing bad or good. I believe in them. I thought tonight he came out tonight, he was aggressive. I still thought he didn’t shoot enough 3s, but that’s a start, and he was aggressive. He made a couple big plays, that one and the beginning of the fourth quarter was a huge part of it. He was all over the place tonight so that was great.”
The Sixers have all expressed their support for Harris over the past few days and he appreciates their support, but he also understands that he just has to play better.
“Nobody died. I just got blood,” Harris laughed. “I had a conversation with Doc today about the whole thing and he just said get back to being you. Going out there and smiling and enjoying and being a leader for the group. That really hit me and that’s something I really needed to hear.”
Despite everything that has been centered on Harris recently, he has still wanted the attention to be on the team and the fact that they now have won five games in a row to create some momentum on their side and continue to push forward.
“I am harder on myself than anybody,” Harris added. “The main message was we got another game and if you look at our group where we’re at right now, I don’t know how many games out of first place we are, four games or five games, but we’re rolling right now. This is a good feeling for our team and I don’t wanna take anything away from that.”
The Sixers seemed like they were forcing the ball to Harris a bit and it looked like he was able to feed off of that and be able to grow and have a big game.
“We’re winning this basketball game and even the Houston game, we’re winning the game,” he finished. “This is what we’re here to do and our group is meshing together, we’re having fun out there on the floor, and that’s what it’s about. It’s about the team.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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