Bucks’ Mike Budenholzer Praises 76ers’ Georges Niang

The Philadelphia 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks both had their fair share of injuries going into Friday night’s matchup. 

For the Sixers, they missed James Harden, Furkan Korkmaz, and Tobias Harris going into the matchup. The night went from bad to worse when the Sixers’ starting guard Tyrese Maxey went down with an unfortunate injury.

A left foot injury forced Maxey back to the locker room to receive an X-ray. Although the initial X-ray came back negative, Maxey is set to undergo more testing in the morning as he’s scheduled for an MRI.

Maxey was the hot hand for the Sixers through the first half of action on Friday as he had scored a team-high of 24 points through the first half. Once the young star went out with an injury, Sixers reserve Georges Niang and his teammates realized how much they had to step up if they wanted to keep the ball rolling and snag a win against the Bucks.

“I think us coming together as a unit, we played a heck of a second half,” said Niang after the game. "Just to keep yourself in it and then have Joel (Embiid) do what he does at the end of the game, that was huge for our team. These are the type of team wins that you fuel you to groove and grow during the year.”

Embiid’s 32-point outing was a key part of the Sixers’ 110-102 win over the Bucks, but Niang’s 17-point performance in 30 minutes off the bench earned praise from Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer after the matchup.

“Niang is a very unique player,” said Budenholzer. “He scores in a lot of different ways, and the fact that he is playing with a great player in Embiid certainly helps him, but he gets them in a variety of ways, not just because he’s playing with Embiid. He’s a winning player. He’s had some good games in the past.”

Going into Friday’s game, Niang was averaging eight points in 18 minutes per game. With an extended shift on Friday due to the 76ers being shorthanded, Niang took advantage and shot efficiently from the floor as he hit on six of his 11 shots from the field, knocking down 50 percent of his threes. 

The Sixers got a solid contribution from everybody involved on Friday, but the veteran sharpshooter’s performance earned the opponent’s respect, as Budenholzer singled out Niang for good reason on Friday. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.