‘I told you be ready!’ — Milton helps 76ers’ Embiid even series
Joel Embiid bounded on the court and pointed at Shake Milton following an electrifying stretch that might have saved Philadelphia’s season and yelled, “I told you be ready!”
Sure enough, Embiid — who had a sideline confrontation last season with Milton — rallied the forgotten guard with a pregame pep talk.
“For some reason,” Embiid said, “I felt like he was going to be needed.”
Milton buried a 32footer and scored 14 points, and Embiid had a playoffbest 40 points and 13 rebounds to lead the hosts 76ers past the Atlanta Hawks 118102 in Game 2 on Tuesday night and even the Eastern Conference semifinal. Game 3 is Friday in Atlanta.
“It really shows what the playoffs is about,” Philadelphia forward Tobias Harris said. “You never know who’s going to be able to step up.”
Milton took his turn in Game 2. He thrived as a sixth man this season before he fell out of favor and slogged through an awful first round against Washington (3.4 points per game).
With the reserves failing Philly for the second straight game against the Hawks — the Sixers had zero bench points at the half — head coach Doc Rivers gave Milton a shot in the third.
The Sixers blew a 21point lead and Trae Young hit two freethrow tries in the third for Atlanta’s first lead, 8079.
Then came Milton. He did not play in the first half but promptly buried a quick 3 to make it 8280 for Philadelphia’s first bench points in 34 minutes. He buried a longdistance 3 at the horn that sent the Sixers into the fourth quarter with a 9184 lead and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Rivers kept the faith and Milton rattled the Hawks and helped the Sixers roll to a 140 run that blew open the game.
Young scored 21 points for the Hawks, and Danilo Gallinari scored 21.
“Whenever we got close, we just turned the ball over or gave up a basket,” Atlanta head coach Nate McMillan said.
Jazz 112, Clippers 109: Donovan Mitchell poured in 45 points as host Utah rallied from a 60-47 halftime deficit to win Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series. Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points and Paul George 20 for Los Angeles. The Clippers had a chance to tie on the last possession but Rudy Gobert blocked a 3-point try by Marcus Morris Sr.