Joel Embiid, Doc Rivers praise Sixers bench for performance vs. Jazz
The Philadelphia 76ers were able to come away with a 131-123 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz thanks to the huge performances from Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris. The tandem was terrific down the stretch of the game and they were able to help the Sixers come away with a win.
However, they would not have been in that position if the bench unit did not provide a big spark in the second half.
“I thought the bench turned the game around in the third quarter,” said coach Doc Rivers. “Dwight (Howard), that whole group made a run cut it to one, and then we brought our starters in to close it out.”
Rivers turned to an all-bench lineup of Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, Matisse Thybulle, Mike Scott, and Howard to start the fourth quarter down by five points. The lineup was terrible in the first half, but they were huge in the fourth quarter in helping Philadelphia get back in the game.
“They were huge,” said Embiid. “They did that the last game too. They kept us in it. We were actually behind as a starting 5 and they came in and they did their job.”
Howard was a big reason for that run in the fourth. He knocked down a triple over Rudy Gobert early in the quarter and he then stripped Gobert on the other end which led to a hook shot. The 17-year veteran was turning back the clock a bit.
“That was really encouraging,” said Rivers. “We actually went into the game thinking Dwight would play lower minutes and we would play Mike a lot at the 5 against Gobert, but Dwight played so well, we were able to play our normal five, which was big.”
After the bench unit finished off their work, the starters came in and they were able to close the deal and pick up an impressive victory. Embiid made sure he called out the bench unit all by name.
“Dwight, Shake, Furkan, Matisse, Mike, they all came in they all gave us a lot of lift and great energy,” said the big fella. “It was our job to finish it.”
The Sixers now go into the All-Star break sitting atop the Eastern Conference.
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