Doc Rivers praises Sixers rookies for their efforts in win over Magic
The Philadelphia 76ers had a meaningless game on Sunday as they entered their season finale with nothing to play for after wrapping up the No. 1 seed with a win on Friday. With that in mind, it was time to give their main players some rest and get them ready for the playoffs.
Coach Doc Rivers turned to his rookies and let them play a majority of the game on Sunday as they knocked off the Orlando Magic 128-117 to finish off the season up at 49-23. The team got big performances out of Tyrese Maxey, Isaiah Joe, and Paul Reed as they gave the team some promise that the 2020 draft class has a real bright future in the league for them.
“They were so excited today when we told them that the guys were not playing,” Rivers laughed. “They were talking about winning the game and they really went out. They played against another team that had a lot of their starters on the floor and won the game. That’s pretty cool for those guys.”
It helps that the rookies have been participating in what the team calls “low-minute games” which is where the players who get low minutes come in and get scrimmages in. They will get the work in to help with their development.
“That’s a testimony to them and to Eric Hughes and the whole group of coaches that wake up every morning, after the games with those guys,” said Rivers. “They have that low-minute scrimmage, even some of the vets get in the game now. When we don’t have enough guys, the coaches play, and it’s a real game, they play hard, and they’ve been doing it every day this year.”
Those low-minute games are helpful for their development and they even had veterans like George Hill and Furkan Korkmaz join those games as well to get an idea of what the NBA is like.
“Every time I play low-minute, we play extremely hard,” said Maxey. “It’s always competitive. Isaiah Joe, Paul Reed, George Hill when he was playing, Furk when he plays a little bit, it’s always competitive every single time. I think it’s really good for our young guys and it just helps us stay prepared.”
They have helped guys like Joe who has stepped up on both ends of the floor and he was able to make an impact on defense in Sunday’s win. His work on that end continues to be noticeable.
“My defense is all about being in the right place at the right time,” Joe explained. “Just proving to people that I can guard on the ball so just that tenacity. I feel like we have a great defensive team and my job is to come in and not be the weak link and that’s what we do every night.”
Then there is Reed who continues to be a fan-favorite with his “out the mud” rallying cry and he has 17 points and 12 rebounds in the win, both career-highs. Playing a lot of minutes on Sunday helped his development in terms of being able to be a bit of a leader out there.
“I think it helps my development a lot just going out there, going through the different coverages,” he explained. “I don’t normally play a lot of minutes so I’m not used to going out there and calling out the ices and the veers and stuff like that so going out there and playing, give me the opportunity to fix what I needed to fix and ultimately get better at it.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
