Sixers Bell Ringer: A plethora of options as Sixers smoke Magic

Nov 28, 2022 - 3:00 AM

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Sixers regular season Bell Ringer standings:

Joel Embiid - 6

James Harden - 4

Tyrese Maxey- 3

Shake Milton- 3

Tobias Harris - 1

Georges Niang - 1

Paul Reed - 1

Well, that was certainly a lot of fun!

The Sixers, missing their top three scorers, crushed the Magic Sunday night, 133-103, to sweep their weekend series in Orlando. Since Joel Embiid has been out, the Sixers have won three or four. Despite missing Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey, they’re now two games above .500 for the first time this season.

Let’s talk Bell Ringer!

Shake Milton: 29 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 10 of 13 (3 of 6 from three)

Another week of this and we might have to call this “The Shake Milton Bell Ringer.” Milton was terrific again, scoring and setting the table like he’s been doing since Maxey went down against the Bucks.

The two most impressive aspects of Milton’s game lately: his passing and his shooting.

Milton came into the league as a point guard, but did much more as a scorer once he earned a role with the Sixers. Last season, Milton was making some advanced reads and passes, but injuries, inconsistencies and the arrival of Harden made it harder for Shake to get on the floor and show the strides he’d made. Since the Milwaukee game in which Maxey went down, Milton is averaging 6.5 assists a game, including a career-high 10 on Friday.

Shake’s ability to wiggle open in the midrange never went anywhere, but he’s had difficulties from deep over the last two seasons. He’s shooting a preposterous 14 of 29 (48.2 percent) from three over his last six games.

There’s not much else to say. The Sixers have been winning while shorthanded and Milton has been their best player.

Tobias Harris: 25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 10 of 14 (2 of 2 from three)

If your vote doesn’t go to Milton, then Harris has to be the guy you’d say has come up the biggest since Embiid went down. The veteran forward has been outstanding ever since the second half of the Brooklyn win. It was more of the same Sunday as Harris was aggressive and decisive. He had a finish into the chest of Bol Bol early that felt tone-setting.

While Harris has been great scoring the basketball with at least 19 points in each of his last four, he’d been struggling from deep. He was 3 of his last 19 entering the night before going 2 of 2 Sunday. It’s fair to wonder if injuries to his hip and ankle affected his shot.

Speaking of: bonus points to Harris for playing hurt with the team down so many valuable players. Dude is a gamer.

Danuel House, Jr: 19 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 8 of 10 free throws

House did his best Harden impression getting to the line 10 times. In all seriousness, House’s aggressive style of play led to many of those free throws. In easily his best performance as a Sixers, House showed what happens when his chaos is used for good.

House’s minutes had actually been waning, despite the Sixers being so shorthanded. He played just under 26 minutes Sunday. Considered one of the bigger additions by the Sixers this offseason, the 29-year-old did not get off to a great start. With so many bench players contributing right now, it’ll be interesting to see what Doc Rivers does with his rotation and where House fits.

Paul Reed: 12 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks

Speaking of chaos, it was another eventful night for Bball Paul. He had five turnovers with a couple brutal ones early, but once he got into the flow of the game ...

Overall, Reed did many Reed things. He was active on both ends of the floor, creating deflections and hitting the offensive glass. Reed recorded his second double-double in the last week. He was also a team-high +28.

Montrezl Harrell has been solid during this recent stretch, but it seems more apparent than ever that Reed is the better option to back up Embiid.