Covington not allowing anyone to stop him, including himself

CAMDEN, N.J. >> With the authority to run a potential game-winning play without the inconvenience of a timeout Friday, T.J. McConnell edged toward the top of the Portland Trail Blazers’ defense, waited for a flinch, then threw a fourseam fastball to Robert Covington on the left side, beyond the arc.

As he has been throughout a surprisingly successful basketball career, Covington was ready.

“I’ve been told so much over time that a lot of people didn’t think I’d be here,” Covington would say, moments later. “But I am. And I put myself in great position because I’ve always had the mentality that what is meant for me is going to be there for me.

“And it’s actually working. Because, day-to-day, only one person can stop you. And that’s

yourself.”

The Blazers reacted with acceptable haste to the open Covington. By then, it was too late. Covington is too long. His shooting form is too pure. His release is too smooth. His confidence is too high. So the Sixers’ forward took the shot, which tucked just inside the rim, giving the Sixers the lead for good with 4.5 seconds left. They would win, 93-92, causing fans to roar. It was hardly the first time they would react to Covington’s shooting this season.

Many of the same fans groaned when he missed 45 of his 64 three-point attempts in November. And they growled when he was 15-for-55 from the arc in December. And they called talk shows and demanded his resignation after he missed 12 of his first 17 long shots in January. The booing was loud and regular,

often when shots were in mid-air, even though some of them would connect.

“Think about his life in Philadelphia recently, with him getting hounded,” Brett Brown said, after Covington’s game-winning triple. “I mean, they are on him. And it hasn’t broken him. In fact, it has made him harder. And that shot was just an example of him shooting through it and having the courage to take that last shot.

“That is a mindset more than a skill.”

Covington was an undrafted, mid-major forward from Tennessee State who had played seven games for the Houston Rockets in 2014 but was headed to the D-League in 2015. That’s when the Sixers signed him for a minimum fee. That proved to be organic, healthy basketball-team building, identifying a hidden talent, not dumping games to try to win a lottery pick. In his first game with the Sixers, against the Spurs, Covington scored six points in 17 minutes. By December, he would provide 25 points in an overtime victory in Detroit. And by season’s end, he would be a necessary tool in the Sixers’ togetherwe-build project.

On a team where even some of the supposed fruits of a process are not as productive, the fourthyear NBA former walk-on is a fixture in games, early, late … and very late. That’s because he never buckled

under the criticism. That’s because Brown didn’t, either.

“It is so much more a mindset than it is anything,” Brown said. “In fact, it’s not even close. It’s not like his elbow is out. It’s not like his balance is off. At times there are challenged shots that you’d wish he didn’t shoot. But shooters shoot. And so, I think with Robert you just do what you do. You remind him of what he is and where he can impact a game offensively. And there, it’s not even close. It is to make threes. Catch, shoot and make threes. And have the confidence to miss.”

Brown’s patience with Covington was not widely popular, early. It was smoothed, though, with Covington’s defense, not just in individual assignments, as when he smothered Andrew Wiggins, but in just knowing where to be, when to help, when to recover, where to slide … the defensive principles that coaches demand yet too often don’t enjoy.

“Coach told me one of my main things was becoming more and more of a two-way player,” Covington said. “So I just had to continue to work. And that’s one thing I have really taken pride in, becoming a two-way player. Because that makes you that much more valuable to the team. And during crunch times, I’ll be on the floor in certain situations because I’ll be one of the main guys to take on a team’s best player.”

He’ll be on the floor working, appreciating the cheers, ignoring the complaints.

“I’m a fighter,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been my whole life. Just because the fans were on me at one point, I am not going to let it deteriorate my game. I just let it go in one ear and out the other. I am just going to keep playing.

“I’m not one to get into people’s opinions; I have never been that way. Because if I was, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”