The Philadelphia 76ers still have a lot of growing to do if they want to seriously compete for a championship, but Saturday was a nice step in the right direction.
They had to dig deep and not give in after allowing the Indiana Pacers to rally and take the lead after they led by 15. The Sixers had to continue to fight and come away with a 119-116 win after some clutch plays down the stretch by Ben Simmons on the defensive end.
Tobias Harris, who had 22 points, was impressed with Simmons as he said:
It just shows his ability and what he is capable of. We know as a team what we expect from one another and what we expect from Ben too so just him being able to find a way to will us to a victory, willing our team, I think that’s what we have to continue to grow on. We’re finding that out as a group in the fourth quarter different guys at different times being able to impact the game through different ways so with Ben he can do it either on the offensive or defensive emd. He’s overall, an amazing talent.
The Sixers had to fight through some adversity in order to win this one being on the second night of a back-to-back and then having a hard-charging Pacers team continue to find ways to score coupled with a few questionable calls from the officiating. It was an impressive win for the group.
Harris added:
Sometimes, it goes that way. The foul on the three, that was discouraging for me, I would do anything to be able to win the game at that point. Overall, I was just able to try to get into a rhythm in the fourth quarter from the start of it and do anything to will us to victory. I think coming off a back-to-back, this is a crucial game. Two teams that kind of, their records are right there with one another and us being at home, we wanted to protect our court and we really want to make a statement as we continue to try and get on a little streak here with wins and being able to go on the road and win so we’re continuing to progress. This was a good step.
The Sixers will welcome in the Utah Jazz on Monday as they look to continue to play well at home. [lawrence-related id=20347,20339,20330]