76ers' Georges Niang Addresses Early Frustrations vs. Nuggets
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Georges Niang couldn’t hold back from voicing his frustrations towards his teammate Shake Milton in the second quarter of Saturday’s game against the Denver Nuggets. As Milton attempted to go up for a layup in a two-on-one situation in transition, Niang wanted the ball.
Instead, Milton’s attempted layup was blocked, and Niang was visibly frustrated. Following the play, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers called a timeout. Niang and Milton continued to exchange words on their way back to the bench. Eventually, Niang lost his cool in the moment and had to spectate himself from the group to calm down.
“I was being a bad teammate,” Niang said after the game on Saturday. “There’s no need to do that on the court. It just didn’t need to happen. I need to get my emotions in check. Some of that, sometimes that stuff is good. You say what you gotta say and keep it moving.”
Niang and Milton didn’t let the incident boil over. While the Sixers continued to struggle in the first half, they turned things around in the second half, and Niang was a big reason for that as he drained all of his threes, missing just one of his four shots from the field and producing nine points in nine minutes as the Sixers rallied off a 68-46 run to win the game.
Niang admittedly regrets the way he reacted, but the two veterans have already moved on from the situation, as Milton and Niang laughed off the situation in the locker room after the matchup.
“You just walk away and realize, like how could I have handled that differently?” Niang finished. “Obviously, If I could go back in time, I definitely would, and it is what it is, and we’re moving on.”
After a tough first half on Saturday, the Sixers came back from a 15-point deficit and gained a 126-119 lead over the Nuggets in the fourth quarter. While Joel Embiid’s 47-point performance was a major part of the win, everybody had a hand in the victory.
And although the team dealt with frustrations early on, the locker room was full of laughs after the matchup as the Sixers are thrilled to snag their seventh win in a row.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
