The Philadelphia 76ers’ Tobis Harris has expressed his dissatisfaction for not being named as an Eastern Conference All-Star.
Harris has continued to demonstrate that he belongs among the league’s best players.
The Sixers are on a season-best six-game winning streak heading into Wednesday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, and Harris has been a big part of that success.
Harris scored 30 points to lead the Sixers to a hard-fought 99-96 win over the visiting New York Knicks on Tuesday. He took over in the fourth quarter with a pair of big baskets down the stretch with Joel Embiid out for at least two weeks due to a bone bruise on his left knee.
Harris made 11 of 20 attempts overall, including 4 of 6 from the 3-point range.
“What matters to me is what can I do better to help us win with the big fella down,” Harris said in a postgame interview on NBC Sports Philadelphia. “It’s a new challenge. We need everybody to step up.”
Harris appeared to shout to the audience, “I’m an All-Star,” after one of his late baskets.
76ers coach Doc Rivers said of Harris’ snub, “I’m sure it fuels him.” “In my opinion, he is an All-Star.”
Seth Curry scored 20 points for Philadelphia, and Ben Simmons had a good all-around game with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists.
The Sixers will get little rest after such a physically taxing game before hosting the Bucks in less than 24 hours.
“They’re long. They’re athletic,” Rivers said of the Bucks. “The biggest thing for them is they’ve been playing together.”
The Bucks will be looking for their fifth win in a row and their tenth in their last eleven games.
In their most recent game, they beat the Washington Wizards 133-122 on Monday, thanks in part to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s third straight triple-double: 31 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists.
It was the first time in Bucks history that a player had three consecutive triple-doubles.
“It’s not always about scoring. You can manipulate the game in different ways: passing, finding your teammates, putting them in the right spot.” Antetokounmpo said.
Every season, the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player continues to improve, and this season has been no exception.
“He’s been in a good place mentally,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said of Antetokounmpo. “The way he’s playing and creating for others and creating for himself and getting to the free-throw line, he’s in a good place. He’s playing great basketball.”
The Bucks also got a great offensive balance, as all nine players in Milwaukee scored time against the Wizards. Middleton added 23 points and Lopez had 22 points. He had 22 points.
“Nobody settled just to get a shot up,” Middleton said. “We realize we have many different matchups we can go to.”
In recent games, Middleton has been in a bit of a slump. Despite the Wizards starting 1 out of 6 he continued to shoot and finally found his groove, finishing 9 out of 22.
“Sometimes it’s definitely mechanical, sometimes it’s mental,” Middleton said. “The mechanical stuff I think is easy to fix and same with the mental part. After a while, you just tell yourself you’re going to make shots. The percentages are always going to even (themselves) out.”
