The Sixers finished off the Washington Wizards in a gentleman’s sweep, taking care of business at home to close the series in just five games. This series has certainly held its ups and downs, respectively. We’ve seen the Sixers flat out dominate the Wizards through the first three games with the team fully healthy. We found a new low however, as Joel Embiid went down in Game 4 with an apparent knee injury after a hard fall, which has subsequently been ruled a partially torn meniscus.
Thus far in round one, the starters and main guys deserve an immense amount of credit as they haven’t played down to the competition for the majority of this series. One guy that has been overlooked for the majority of his career, George Hill, also deserves some shine for the performances he’s had off the bench throughout the past week and a half.
George Hill, in my opinion, has been the arguably the best player off the Sixers’ bench. While players such as Tyrese Maxey and Furkan Korkmaz have had their respective moments, Hill has quietly been producing solid numbers on a nightly basis. He’s truly the definition of a solid veteran and role player.
Through five games, he’s averaging some incredible shooting splits of 60 percent shooting from both the field and 3-point range, to go along with 90.0 percent from the charity stripe. Hill has always been remarked as one of the better shooters in the league, but these numbers have been really impressive to see — especially since he was shaking off some rust after returning from his thumb injury.
George Hill is averaging around 20 minutes-per-game in the postseason, and I would expect that number to steadily climb. He’s a perfect fit alongside any lineup Doc Rivers can put out, and giving Ben Simmons or Tobias Harris a secondary playmaker would greatly reduce the offensive expectations now placed upon them with the Embiid injury. We can also factor in that the Sixers have gone 10-to-11 players deep in this first-round series, which is not very feasible for any future playoff series. The minutes and rotation will definitely start to shrivel up with time.
While Hill’s offensive numbers are impressive, it also doesn’t tell the full story with how solid he has been. He was relied upon to defend Washington’s Russell Westbrook much more than originally anticipated heading into the series — mainly due to Ben Simmons foul trouble. George Hill, along with other Sixers defenders, deserves a ton of credit for limiting Washington’s second-best player, especially earlier in the series.
You can witness Hill’s experience whenever you watch him take the court. He’s been in the NBA for 12 years and has played in 25 different playoff series across multiple divisions and conferences. His playoff experience is only out-weighted by Danny Green, who has been in 28 playoff series. Having two guys who have been there and done that on this Sixers team is greatly beneficial.
The mid-season acquisition of George Hill has turned out to be a major move by Daryl Morey. We’ve seen Shake Milton struggle in this first-round series so much to the point where he’s been on the fringe of the rotation. Tyrese Maxey has had some awesome moments in this first-round series, but it’s hard to place expectations on a rookie guard to perform at such a high level on a nightly basis. The Sixers have needed steady and solid play from a guard off the bench, and have gotten just that from George Hill.
George Hill has been a crucial addition to the Sixers - Liberty Ballers
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment