Harden was injured first in early November, and the 76ers needed a player with the ability to handle the ball to replace him. Milton was obliged to jump out. Two weeks later, the Sixers needed another starting guard when Tyrese Maxey suffered a broken left foot. Milton fought the fire again, averaging 21.3 points, 6 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and a true shooting percentage of 65.7% in 8 games per game (shooting measurements: 54.7%, 45.5%, 96.4%!). However, when Harden returned from rehabilitation, he returned to the familiar role of the bench, assisting the two stars behind…
The Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers faced the Portland Trail Blazers on 1/19. They started to crash at the end of the third quarter. Although they took the victory smoothly in the end, they once led by 26 points and were beaten 14-0 in the third quarter. The fierce offensive, the point difference was once narrowed to 12 points in the tense stage.
With the Sixers’ entire starting lineup — including Joel Embiid and James Harden — on the sidelines, Philadelphia desperately needed someone to step up and stop the Blazers’ unstoppable offensive frenzy. Shake Milton quickly stepped up to the task, and the lanky guard immediately hit a step-back jumper, then somehow “slid” past a group of defenders for a left-handed layup that ended The Sixers had a scoring drought of 4-5 minutes.
In his fifth year in the league, Milton’s importance has reached a new high in his career. Throughout the season, except that he did not squeeze into the rotation at the beginning of the season, he has been constantly adjusting in response to the different needs of the team. He was benched for the first three games of the season, 10 different teammates started the season earlier than him, he didn’t start getting more than 10 minutes until 11/2, and scored in double digits for the first time Numbers appear on 11/12.
Then in early November, Harden was injured first, and the Sixers needed a player with ball-handling ability to replace him. Milton jumped out obligedly. Two weeks later, the Sixers needed another starting guard when Tyrese Maxey suffered a broken left foot. Milton fought the fire again, averaging 21.3 points, 6 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and a true shooting percentage of 65.7% in 8 games per game (shooting measurements: 54.7%, 45.5%, 96.4%!). However, when Harden returned from rehab, he returned to the familiar role of backup, supporting the two stars behind.
In the injury-ridden Sixers, Milton was basically an important “metronome” to stabilize the team’s rhythm. He brought a certain degree of stabilizer to the team. Big players are fighting against the rewards.
“Whether he is a starter or a backup, his energy will not fluctuate too much. I think in the long run, this trait will help him go further.” From the comments of Sixers head coach Doc Rivers , also reflects Milton’s personal character.
In 43 games this season, Milton is currently averaging 10.2 points (59.2% true shooting percentage), 3.3 assists, 3 rebounds, a high level of 38.3% outside shooting, and a career-high 55% two-point shooting ! The main reason for his outstanding performance is likely to be a change in his shooting pattern.
According to Cleaning The Glass data, this season he took a career-high 41% of his shots at the basket (ranking PR 90 among the league’s combo guards), and his shooting percentage was a decent 66% (PR 64); In the same data, the highest rate is only 32%; in addition, the probability of his offensive and defensive conversion this season (averaging 1.241 points per round, which is the level of PR72) is 20.3%, which is also a career high figure.
He likes to float to the frontcourt without knowing it, and benefited from Harden’s magician-like vision of the whole court, and got many opportunities to convert fast breaks; however, Harden’s talent alone is not enough to cause such a big The impact is that the whole team attaches great importance to switching fast breaks, which makes Milton the first to benefit as the No. 1 forward.
“I just try to cause some pressure on the opponent’s defense as much as possible.” Milton said, “Being fully aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean you have a chance to shoot, but at least you can attract some defenders and contribute to the team’s offense. “
Milton’s cuts have a methodical yet seductive effect. He’s not like Maxey who can go from one side of the court to the other in the blink of an eye, but he’s very composed and patient, always looking around and finding the right angle with the ball, and by the time he faces the defender, 6′ At 5 inches, he will use his 7-foot wingspan to crush opponents and help him finish with any hand.
When Milton entered the NBA, he was a long-range sniper, hitting 445 three-pointers in college with a 42.7% three-point shooting rate. In the first two seasons of his career, more than 49% of his shots were outside the three-point line. These outside lines also opened up his cutting opportunities; now, Milton has become a good cutting player. The proportion is only a career low of 28%.
Milton has occasionally struggled with offensive decision-making over the past few years as this shift has come and gone; More decisive at all times, and the shot has been completed before the defender moves forward.
