Those are outlandish numbers, but not shocking in light of the Sixers’ regular-season success.
“Just the next guy has to step up,” head coach Doc Rivers said.
He scored 11 points in a momentum-shifting first-quarter burst and had one of his better defensive showings, preventing anything similar from Kevin Huerter on the other side of the ball.
“I don’t think there’s any better motivation than starting the game, because you know you need to set the tone with the starters and you need to be good.” Korkmaz said.
Curry was certainly not a defensive weak spot in Game 3, which enabled Korkmaz to begin the second half defending Tony Snell and being guarded by Trae Young.
Green had not been his best to start this series, shooting 1 for 9 from three-point range and experiencing very prominent defensive difficulties against Young during the first half of Game 1.
He’s sometimes looked every one of his 33 years when trying to create off the dribble or chase shooters around screens, but offense/defense platoons haven’t generally been required with Green.
But Danny’s a big part of what we’ve been doing all season, so I hope we get him back as soon as possible.
That’s been me since I started playing basketball, so I’m going to keep fighting.