By Tommy Matthews
Judging by the last two games, Sixers forward Tobias Harris is proving that James Harden doesn’t quite lift everybody’s game.
Harris was just 2-for-9 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday and he started 0-for-6 yesterday against the New York Knicks.
But he caught fire just in time, and his 3-ball to stretched the Sixers lead back to eight with 4:02 left in the fourth quarter and he hit two more big shots to help the Sixers close out a 125-109 win over the Knicks.
Harris finished with 12 points and five rebounds in 35 minutes.
Harden, who had his first triple-double as a Sixer in the win, stayed in Harris’ ear all game long in order to make sure he stayed focused.
“Yes, all the time,” Harden said after the game, per USA Today.
“There were opportunities where Tobias had four or five catch-and-shoot opportunities that he passed up and try to dribble past somebody. That’s the thing that I’m gonna stay in his ear about is he got those opportunities. I don’t care if you miss 20 of them, those are shots we need you to take because more times than not, you’re gonna make those shots.”
“He knows,” added coach Doc Rivers. “He was frustrated with not making shots. Then we ran a play, I think in the beginning of the third, he should’ve come off and he had a shot, and he kinda hesitated, but it’ll come. This is game two.”
