Sixers praise Shake Milton for big night off the bench in win over Hawks

PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers needed everybody to take their game to another level in order to get back on track following a poor effort in Atlanta on Thursday and in a rematch with the Hawks on Saturday, they got a big night from Shake Milton.

The veteran out of SMU had 11 points off the bench on 5-for-8 shooting and his scoring was a big boost in this one. The second unit has been a bit up and down for Philadelphia as a whole and the fact that Milton was able to have success was a nice spark for the team as a whole in the 121-109 win over Atlanta.

“I call him the microwave and that’s what he does,” said Tyrese Maxey. “Going hard left, getting to his left hand, and we worked out today together before shootaround and you can just see his focus and his happiness. He came into the locker room and the weight room saying ‘It’s a good day to have fun’ and he was right.”

Some fun is what the Sixers really needed. The effort and the performance in Atlanta on Thursday is just not going to get the job done and Milton wanted to make sure they don’t repeat the effort on Saturday.

“I think the entire team needed that type of energy after playing slow and sluggish in Atlanta,” Maxey added. “Coming home, had to play them again, and Shake just brought that energy and that shake n bake that he has.”

Milton has been up and down in terms of his play and his playing time has been sporadic as well. Therefore, he has been a little inconsistent, but assistant coach Sam Cassell wants the veteran to find his footing again out on the floor.

“That’s what we need him to do,” said Cassell postgame. “We need him to be more consistent and we need Shake to be free out there. We just need Shake to play basketball and he did that tonight.”

After his performance, Milton wanted to give credit to the team for allowing him to just flourish and do what he does on the offensive end of the floor.

“I think just a little opportunity mixed with unselfish play by the entire team,” he said. “That was something that we were kinda harping on and I think that’s something we executed tonight. Everybody was moving the ball, everybody was unselfish and aggressive, and I feel like the combination of that, I was able to find my spot. I feel like it was more of a team thing than anything.”

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The Sixers will be looking for more of the same from Milton going forward.