Curry, Green and Harris shake off first-game chill
Doc Rivers has been around long enough, as a player and as a coach, to know to not hit the panic button after one game. So the Sixers coach wasn’t concerned that Seth Curry, Danny Green and Tobias Harris went a combined 1-for-13 from 3-point range in Wednesday’s opening night win over the Washington Wizards.
“My guess is things will work out for them,” Rivers said Saturday prior to a 108-89 victory over the Knicks in an empty Madison Square Garden.
Rivers didn’t have to wait long to be proven right.
Curry, Green and Harris combined to shoot 6-for-14 from deep as the 76ers pulled away in the second half to beat the Knicks for the
13th straight time.
The Sixers haven’t lost to New York since April of 2017.
Curry connected on 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and finished with 17 points and a plus-17 rating. Scott was
1-for-4 and wound up with 14 points and was plus-26 on the night. Green was 2-for-6 and had six points.
“I was thrilled to death with the first unit’s offense,” Rivers said. “I thought they moved the ball and they played together and they made each other better tonight.”
Curry had two of his triples and eight of his points in the third quarter and Green had one as the Sixers outscored the Knicks, 26-14 to open up an 86-69 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
“I thought Seth kind of eased himself into the game,” Rivers said. “I thought he got it going in the third quarter and then in the beginning of the fourth when we needed it, so it’s good to see.”
The trio only hit one 3-pointer after that, by Harris, but the damage had been done as the Sixers wound up shooting a respectable 35.4 percent from deep (11-for-31).
While the 3-point shooting improved, so did the defense. Much of that focus was on R.J. Barrett, who scored 26 points in the Knicks’ season-opening loss to the Indiana Pacers. Barrett struggled through a 2-for-15 night that included an 0-for-6 performance from 3-point range He finished with 10 points, six of which came at the free-throw line.
Ben Simmons did the yeoman’s work there. He hounded Barrett throughout the night and did not didn’t give him room to operate. Simmons did it on the offensive end, too, finishing with 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.
“I thought defensively he was terrific,” Rivers said of Simmons. “I thought he used his size, he used his length and his instincts are unbelievable, something I didn’t know until now coaching him. And then on the other end, with the pace that he played, forced actions. We got threes just because Ben Simmons pushed the ball up the floor and created actions in the paint and kicked out to guys. I thought he was terrific tonight.”
Simmons helped to turn the tide in the Sixers’ favor. Down 45-40 with 5:55 left in the second quarter Simmons showed his all-star caliber over the next 3:42 to turn the tide in the Sixers’ favor. Simmons only scored two points in
that stretch, but had five rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot to trigger a 14-0 run. His only points came on a dunk putback of a Harris miss and he fed Curry for a
3-pointer to cap the outburst. “I have to be a leader on this team as the point guard,” Simmons said. “I have to get guys in spots and make sure guys are organized, so I feel like if I’m able to do that and we’re in our right spots we’re able to run our sets and plays.”
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With three games in four days and four over a six-day span, could we see a little load management with Joel Embiid?
“No,” Rivers said before the game. “We won’t share that, anyway, so my guess is my answer is you have to wait and see.”
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NOTES » With the win, Rivers moved into sole possession of 10th place in NBA history with win No. 945 of his coaching career. … Omari Spellman, who helped Villanova win the 2018 national championship, missed his second straight game with a sore right knee. The Knicks acquired the 6-8, 245-pound Spellman, guard Jacob Evans plus a future second-round pick in a trade with the Minnestoga Timberwolves on Nov. 24 for center Ed Davis. Evans was waived Dec. 9. … Guard Austin Rivers (groin), Doc’s son, also did not play for the Knicks because of injury. Promising rookies Obi Toppin (right calf), the Knicks’ top pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and Immanuel Quickley (left hip) missed the game due to injury.