Sixers Getting Seth Curry Going Was an Encouraging Sign for Doc Rivers

Seth Curry's been the Sixers' most efficient shooter through the first three games this season. Although he started the year off by getting just five shots up against the New Orleans Pelicans, his attempts have gone up each and every game.

On Sunday night in Oklahoma City, Curry chucked up 15 shots in 34 minutes. Ten of those shots came within the first 12 minutes of action. As Curry proved he was the hot hand early on, 76ers head coach Doc Rivers kept him in for the entire first quarter.

Going 8-10 from the field and 6-7 from three, Curry accounted for 23 of Philadelphia's 36 first-quarter points. Although he went scoreless for the next two quarters, Curry picked up another five points in the final quarter and hit a big three to slow down Oklahoma City's late-game momentum.

While seeing a player get that hot early on and become a one-man show essentially is always a great sign, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers thought it was encouraging to see Sixers players acknowledge Curry was heating up, causing them to get him open looks anytime they were on the offensive side of the ball.

"They knew he had it going, they kept going to him, he kept making shots," Rivers said. "It was really good. That's a good thing when your team notices it, not just the coaching staff on the bench. Everyone noticed it, and I thought Joel and Tobias, in particular, they were doing everything they could to get him in the right spot to get him shots. It was great. If he gets a look, it's going in, or at least that's how you feel."

Rivers said throughout last season that he would like to see Curry get going like that more often as the veteran guard has a lethal shot. Although the Sixers didn't game plan for him to get as many as 15 shots up on Sunday night, the team knew they couldn't move away from getting him the ball.

"We didn't go in with the game plan of getting Seth 28 or whatever he had in the first quarter, but I was saying that the team recognized that he had it going," Rivers continued. "That's the sign of a good team. Like they see that he had it going, and basically they were running Seth Curry lefts, Seth Curry right on post up to Joel, they're cutting to get Seth shots, really great recognition by our group."

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