Nick Nurse doesn’t have his rotations all the way figured out just yet.
Fortunately for the Philadelphia 76ers, they are just fine.
Twelve games into the 2023-2024 NBA season, the Sixers have changed the starting lineup four times. In addition, they’ve had different players in and out of the rotation coming off the bench. Yet, they’ve won 75 percent of their games, collecting their ninth victory of the year on Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks.
Nurse and the Sixers are still learning a lot about themselves early on in the year, but another successful showing from specific bench players who’ve seen inconsistent minutes once again proved that Philadelphia might be deeper than anybody anticipated.
Coming off of a 20-minute shift against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, Jaden Springer saw another 22 minutes of action in Atlanta. As for Danuel House, he went from playing in under three minutes against the Celtics to picking up 18 minutes of action against the Hawks.
Nurse trusted both players to come in early and get their handprints on the game in any way. The head coach’s gamble paid off.
“They both played extremely hard and really impacted the game,” Nurse told reporters after the matchup. “We kind of decided pregame, again, with an explosive guard backcourt that we were facing, that maybe we would need defensive impact in the game. Same with House. I thought he showed some stuff in the last game, too. That was kind of early, and we told them they were coming early and I think that gave them some confidence.”
House covered a lot of ground on Friday night, flashing productive two-way balance. On the offensive end, he knocked down 63 percent of his shots, scoring a season-high 14 points.
As for Springer, he was a pest defensively. He grabbed three rebounds on the offensive end, generating second-chance opportunities for his squad. He also snatched a steal and blocked two shots. Sprinkling in some offensive value, Springer collected eight points and dished out two assists.
“They just played the game and let it come to them,” Nurse added. “Obviously, they were sending people towards Joel mostly, and those guys did a good job of finding the open areas and benefitted. Either Jaden got the cuts to the rim, and House kind of got the kick-outs for three, which is kind of hopefully, one of those two things is open when they’re double-teaming.”
With an impressive all-around showing, and some reliable help from the bench unit, the Sixers defeated the Hawks 126-116 on Friday night. Advancing to 9-3 on the year, the Sixers also improved to 2-1 in the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.
On a personal level, House and Springer left a good impression on the coach. They’ll have to sustain that level of play to stick around in the rotation, but as final decisions have yet to be made, they are getting chances to prove they belong on the floor.
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