When the 2019-20 season began, the expectation was that Tobias Harris was going to be the team’s go-to scorer down the stretch of games. Thursday night was another example of Harris stepping into that role.
Harris had 23 points, 16 of them coming in the second half, and helped the Sixers knock off the Boston Celtics 115-109 on the road and hand them their first home loss of the season. His scoring effort is something that coach Brett Brown is happy to finally see out of him.
“We have preached, I encouraged from day second that ‘I want you to score. I want you to think like a scorer, act like a scorer, you have that skill set, and a package that is capable of that.’,” said Brown. “I’m not asking him to do something that’s out of his wheelhouse.”
Over the previous 13 games entering Thursday’s contest, Harris was averaging 21.5 points and he was shooting 39.7% from deep. He was scoring in a variety of ways and it continued against Boston with his performance, most of it coming in the second half.
“We’re trying to grow him,” he added. “Whether it’s a post-up, whether it’s a three, whether it’s getting to the line, whether it’s a little pull-up, an 18-footer. I put him in pick-and-rolls and I think for me, I’m always reminded that he’s 26-years old. He’s young, his better days are ahead of him. I think he’s in a really good place and he certainly is important all over the place to what we’re trying to achieve.”
Taking over the perimeter scoring role from a guy like Jimmy Butler is not easy and he has had his ups-and-downs, but Harris continues to really push forward and give this team exactly what it needs on that end of the floor. Being as young as he is and with his work ethic, the Sixers expect this continue for them. He can only go up from here. [lawrence-related id=21221,21208,21201]