The Philadelphia 76ers looked dead in the water Sunday night in Indianapolis. They fell 20 points on the road without their best player to Joel Embiid and looked like they would continue without a win without the big star man.
Then Tobias Harris closed out, the team moved on to a zone defense and was able to rally and beat the Indiana Pacers 119-110 to get an impressive win without the big guy. This was a game they would surely lose in the past and was mainly due to Harris refusing to let the Sixers lose in this one.
“It was fantastic,” coach Doc Rivers said. “We ran our series of punches, punch-4. What I liked, we did on both sides of the floor. Our boys have executed it, it gives us space, I thought it organized us and Tobias was very efficient ”.
Harris finished with 27 points on 10-on-19 shots and scored 10 in the fourth quarter to help Philadelphia return to the storm in that one. This was the performance made by an All Star player and it proved that he had this right mindset.
“It’s a winning mindset,” Harris explained. “I was out there today to get buckets to help our team win and we started calling a couple of sets to get to work and I took the opportunity and the opportunity … For me, it’s just the fourth quarter, match, well, with Joel out, you just have to get to a place and get a bucket for the team and come back. “
Matisse Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz and Dwight Howard also played a role in this victory. Thybulle was a threat on defense and Korkmaz was able to drop huge shots while Howard was fantastic on the bench, but Harris remained the main catalyst for the attack to get them back on track.
“I said the other day, Tobias does a show and I think we just have to sit back and enjoy,” Thybulle said. “He is doing a great job and he is doing everything we ask for him and much more. He is playing at both ends at a high level.
With Embiid out, Harris was the team’s top scorer in that situation and Howard made sure he knew when he landed back on the ground.
“Tobias came into the game and I went to look for him, I said ‘Hey, don’t settle, no one can protect you on the ground. Go get buckets, ”Howard said. “She is OK. He didn’t settle, he attacked the basket, he put pressure on the edge, he put pressure on the referees and he made great plays ”.
Howard added that he has a new nickname for Harris.
This was an impressive win overall and Harris definitely continues to give a serious case to the Eastern Conference All-Star team. They will now have to move forward and complete the journey strongly on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire. Follow us on Facebook!