Daily News | De’Anthony Melton’s emergence creates a good problem for the Sixers once Tyrese Maxey returns
. Entering Monday, he was tied for third in the NBA in deflections per game and ranked second in steals per game . Now, Rivers feels even more confident with Melton guarding bigger offensive players “that we didn’t know we could put him on,” such as when he helped hold Los Angeles Clippers All-Star Paul George to five second-half points during Friday’s comeback win.
Early on, Sixers coaches and teammates needed to encourage Melton to let it fly. Now, Melton is less than three weeks removed from scoring a career-high 33 points on 8-of-12 from downtown in an overtime win against the Lakers. Even after missing 22 of 32 threes in his previous four games entering Christmas, Melton wanted to exude a confident “vibe” against the Knicks because “I knew my family was going to give me grief if I didn’t go out there and be aggressive.
He grabbed a rebound shortly after re-entering in the fourth, snapping the ball to Niang for one of his four three-pointers in the period. A Melton steal less than two minutes later led to a Harden lob to Tobias Harris for the alley-oop dunk that put the Sixers up 114-102. Harden views Melton as a microcosm, of sorts, of the Sixers’ overall development and role definition during their eight-game winning streak entering Tuesday’s game at the Washington Wizards — which he hopes will help the team reincorporate Maxey. And Melton and Maxey have become fast friends, as evidenced by Maxey playfully joining the small media contingent at Melton’s locker following Sunday’s win.
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