76ers Encourage Tobias Harris to Shoot Threes at High Volume
Following the Philadelphia 76ers’ third-straight loss to the Indiana Pacers over the weekend, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers preached he wanted more threes from his team.
“I want to see more three-pointers, and I want to see more open court and more guys getting to the paint,” Rivers said on Saturday. “And that’s why you don’t get three-pointers right now. We’re not pushing the ball up the floor, and we’re not getting enough stops in a row. So, yeah, definitely more three-pointers.”
76ers veteran forward Tobias Harris took Rivers’ request seriously and applied it to his game plan for Monday’s matchup against the Indiana Pacers.
In the first quarter alone, Harris launched five shots from beyond the arc in eight minutes. While he drained just one of his attempts from three, Harris’ early struggles didn’t prevent him from continuing to let shots fly from deep.
Harris tacked on two more attempts in the second quarter, totaling ten points in the first half. Then when the third quarter rolled around, he put up two more threes. Going into the final quarter of the night, Harris was approaching his career-high three-point attempts.
When he hit on his only shot in the final quarter, Harris launched his tenth three. That was just the eighth time he attempted more than nine three-pointers in a single outing in his career.
“That’s something I wanted to do more,” said Harris after the game. “It’s a big effort for me to let them rip and shoot them. Obviously, I had a few in the beginning that felt really good — in and outs. So just really in those moments, sticking with it, and having the confidence to pull the next one and sticking to that standard of knowing how good of a shooter I am and how much work I put in on those types of looks and being able to let the next one fly with the same confidence as if I was 5-for-5 at the time.”
After getting the misses out early, Harris stuck to his game plan and continued shooting his way out of an in-game slump. Considering Harris was getting open looks and making the right decision by firing off quick shots, his coach and teammates encouraged the forward to continue letting threes fly.
“He’s wide-open… Shoot them,” said Doc Rivers. “Whoever gets them. We have a team where guys can shoot the shots and shoot threes, right? If they’re open, shoot them. That’s what we’ve been saying all year. The difference is the ball is moving the guys, and they had those opportunities.”
“I haven’t watched the film yet, but for the most part, I felt like they were good shots,” James Harden said. “I threw it to him. They were really good looks. So that’s all our shooters. We encourage them. When you’re open, take the shot and live with the results.”
Harris drained four of his ten shots from beyond the arc on Monday night. He was one of five Sixers to notch double digits, putting up 18 points in 28 minutes.
The Sixers want consistency from beyond the arc, but they don’t want players growing gun shy from deep if the ball doesn’t go in consistently enough from the jump. Harris was the perfect example of what Rivers and the Sixers want to see on Monday night. Take advantage of the open looks and fire at will.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
