Tobias Harris, Horford Prove Their Worth For One Night
The Sixers accomplished the impossible on Thursday night and won a game on the road, defeating the Kings 125-108. Tobias Harris and Al Horford (miraculously) bounced back from their subpar performances in LA to help overcome Buddy Heild & De’Aaron Fox. The Sixers continued their trend of starting off hot, jumping out to a quick 12-point advantage in the first. By the end of the quarter, Brett Brown decided to empty the bench as if his team was up 30 with 2 minutes remaining. The Kings proceeded to go on a 12-0 run to tie the game. The Sixers regained control in the second half but the Kings refused to go away, cutting the lead to six midway through the 4th. Thankfully, the Sixers had a balanced attack all around (17 points from Burks, 16 from Neto) to secure the win. Philadelphia continues to shoot the 3-ball well, shooting 46% from deep in Sacramento. Harris, Shake & Neto shot a combined 9/14 from 3 in the game. Shake Milton impressed yet again, recording 20 points on 8/14 shooting. Milton is shooting 47% from 3 on the season.
Tobias Harris Has Been Proving His Worth
Whenever Tobias is brought up in conversation you can’t help but bring up his $180M contract. Some say he’s overpaid, some say in he gives you what he’s supposed to as a team’s third-best player. In either case, he’s all but proven his worth since Joel Embiid & Ben Simmons went down to injury. Since losing the two All-Stars, Harris has averaged 26.3 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists a game. He’s shot 54% from the floor (48% from 3) over that span. Harris is stepping up when the team needs him most and last night was no different. 19 of his 28 points came in the first half while also grabbing 14 rebounds. Even with Embiid returning to the floor as soon as next week, Tobias getting hot at the right time could make the Sixers tough to beat down the stretch.
🎥 Another strong performance from @tobias31 tonight.
28 PTS | 14 REB | 3 AST pic.twitter.com/tU2djrMmYK
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 6, 2020
Al Horford Didn’t Frustrate Me For The First Time In A Long Time
Much to my surprise, Al Horford didn’t make me want to check into the nearest insane asylum. He finished the game with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists on 7/14 shooting. He’s still emptying the clip from 3 (God help us all) but they’re at least going in. Above all else, Horford was an astounding +41 on the court. That sets a new career-high and ties the highest +/- by a 76er since Andre Iguodala in 2008. My displeasure for Al Horford and his contract is well documented. It’ll benefit the Sixers greatly if he can resemble at least half of his former Boston self during this playoff push like he did last night.
Highest plus-minus* in a game by a player for the @sixers:
+41 – Al Horford (last night)
+41 – Andre Iguodala (Feb. 20, 2008)
+40 – Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (Mar. 17, 2017)
+40 – Andre Miller (Feb. 20, 2008)* Plus-minus was first officially recorded in 1996-97. pic.twitter.com/DMnO62lxcf
— Justin Kubatko (@jkubatko) March 6, 2020
- With the win, the Sixers improve to 10-23 on the road.
- Future Sixer Buddy Hield finished with 22 points shooting 6/10 from 3 off the bench for the Kings.
- The Sixers complete their West Coast road trip against a returning Steph Curry and the Warriors on Saturday.
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[…] the first half of action. Tobias has been extremely successful within the absence of Joel and Ben, scoring more than 26ppg he is giving the Sixers exactly what they paid for. He will undoubtedly play a huge role for us in the Chase Center […]