The Philadelphia 76ers slowly began the defense Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings on the road. They were able to score the ball, but they really only received offense from a few sources in the first half.
In the opening drive, Ben Simmons and Seth Curry seemed to be the only ones at an early pace and also received much-needed help from Furkan Korkmaz on the bench.
Curry had 16 points in the half and defeated a pair of triples to keep Philadelphia at an amazing distance while the Kings were hot in the first hour. He finished with 22 and shot 4 for 6 from deep.
“He saved us in that first half,” coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s funny, it seemed that he and Ben were just two who had a good pace, at first, and it was good that our team recognized it. Even Joel (Embiid) and Joel hadn’t shot the ball a couple of times, he runs and loops towards, which is one of our sets for Seth. “
As he was the guard, Simmons recognized him and wanted to make sure his shooter was involved in the offense. Then, that set the tone for everyone to follow, as Embiid and Tobias Harris started in the second half to get the win.
“It’s huge,” Simmons said of Curry. “It’s a big part of this team. When he comes out shooting and hitting shots like that, it’s great, you want to get him at a pace. When everyone feels good out there, makes shots and stops defensively, it’s nice and the guys want to go out and play on defense and then cause breaks and push the ball. “
It’s good that the whole Sixers team has this mindset of involving others. Curry isn’t the star of the team, but he’s important and he got his hand hot soon and Philadelphia made sure they got him the ball.
“That only tells you where the team is right now,” Rivers added. “They see that he succeeded, they feed him and they want him to continue. It was a great sign. “
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!