Doc Rivers loves Sixers depth, will get creative with end of game lineups
The Philadelphia 76ers were able to squeak out an opening night win over the Washington Wizards thanks to the dominance of Joel Embiid down the stretch as well as a closing lineup around him that helped him dominate.
Coach Doc Rivers got a little creative down the stretch rolling out the likes of Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, and Mike Scott around Embiid and Ben Simmons. He eventually went back to Seth Curry and Tobias Harris to replace Korkmaz and Scott, but the depth that the team has is going to be something useful going forward. As long as there are shooters surrounding the two stars, they should be feeling fine late in games.
“We’re gonna put the best group out,” said Rivers at practice on Thursday. “Sometimes, it can be that. That unit is not a bad unit, obviously, to have on the floor because they have so much skill. You may put more of a defensive unit on the floor team in the game is too. We have a lot of players. My guess is at the end the games are gonna probably be different lineups.”
It is important that the Sixers have options they can turn to up and down the lineup. Rivers is the type of guy who will instill confidence in his guys and that is important for any team moving forward.
“Doc gave us the confidence,” said Korkmaz. “Especially for the second unit because whenever we come into the game we are trying to be a scorer, aggressive, every position…It’s gonna take time to play perfect as a team, but I think yesterday (Wednesday) was a great start for us.”
The Sixers move on to face the New York Knicks on Saturday as they look to build their road identity.
