Georges Niang rains three-pointers as Sixers stun the Suns

The 76ers did something they were unable to do in their previous six games against the Phoenix Suns: Win.

They snapped their series losing streak with a 100-88 victory Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The win improved the Sixers to 5-6 and snapped their two-game skid. They also improved to 2-4 at home.

This was a much-needed victory for a squad that has failed to live up to its lofty expectations.

It helped to have Joel Embiid back on the court after he missed the previous three games with the flu.

The five-time All-Star center finished with a game-high 33 points while making all 16 of his free throws. Embiid also had 10 rebounds, five assists, and one block in 36 minutes, 43 seconds. The Sixers ran their offense through him in the high post.

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But as good as Embiid was, the Sixers won the game because of Georges Niang. The reserve power forward finished with a season-high 21 points while he tied a career best with seven three-pointers, in 10 attempts.

When a reporter asked forward Tobias Harris postgame about Embiid’s performance, Harris said jokingly: “Forget Joel. It’s about Georges Niang. Nah, listen. Let me talk about Georges first, because he had a heck of a night for us early in that fourth quarter with the second unit.

“The game is about timely shots when you have a lead and the team is trying to make a run. I just thought Georges, time and time, especially early in the fourth quarter, was able to make big shots for us.”

The Suns (7-3) pulled within four points twice early in the fourth quarter. Both times, Niang responded with a three to put the Sixers back up seven. After they closed the gap to seven with 9:08 remaining, Niang’s three-pointer 15 seconds later made it an 88-78 game. And with the Sixers clinging to a six-point lead, his three-pointer with 5:52 left gave them a 91-82 cushion.

Niang scored 12 fourth-quarter points on 4-of-6 shooting from three.

“Things of that nature deflates the [opposing] team from time to time,” said Harris, who also finished with 21 points, along with eight rebounds and six assists. “You know you hit a three and they end up calling a timeout. Those are big plays for our group and our team. So he was huge with seven threes.”

The Suns left Niang wide-open on most of his looks. He wasn’t initially surprised, because of the attention Embiid attracted.

“But after I made a couple, I was a little surprised that I was getting that many clean looks,” Niang said. “Their game plan was to slow down Joel. So I had to make shots or I probably wouldn’t be out there.”

However, he got a little greedy and attempted a three-pointer with the Sixers up, 100-86, with 52.4 seconds left. Niang was trying to set a career-high by making an eighth three.

“I almost got in trouble for doing that,” he said. “We were up enough that I could pinch one off, but [coach] Doc [Rivers] obviously let me know that wasn’t cool. So that won’t be happening again.”

Embiid wasn’t overly impressed with his 33-point night.

“I didn’t shoot well from the field,” said Embiid, who shot just 8-for-21. “Under 50%, so I just have to get back to myself. You know, be aggressive. As a team, I felt we missed a lot of easy shots and a lot of wide-open shots, but defensively we were pretty good.”

The Sixers made just 38.8% of their shots. Tyrese Maxey struggled from the field for the second straight game, scoring 11 points on 4-for-18 shooting. Meanwhile, De’Anthony Melton, starting in place of the injured James Harden, had six points on 2-for-7 shooting.

However, Melton did a solid job guarding Devin Booker in the fourth quarter.

» READ MORE: Sixers-Suns takeaways: Joel Embiid looks more comfortable initiating offense and defense excels without switching

Booker finished with 28 points on 8-for-16 shooting along with seven rebounds and five assists for the Suns. Fourteen of the All-Star’s points came in the third quarter when Melton played only 2:42 because of foul trouble. But with Melton back on the floor, Booker missed his lone shot attempt and was held scoreless in the fourth.

Suns future Hall of Famer Chris Paul sat out of the second half with right heel soreness. The point guard finished with two points, two assists, and two rebounds in 14 minutes.

The Sixers finished with season highs in rebounds (48), which included 15 off the offensive glass.

At least for one night, Paul Reed was back as the Sixers’ backup center.

That’s a role the third-year player had during the preseason. Montrezl Harrell supplanted him in that role in the first 10 games of the season. But against the Suns, Reed was the first player off the bench, entering 4:55 into the game.

» READ MORE: Sixers showing support for one another, which is ‘super-contagious’

“I knew exactly what was going to be my role,” Reed said. “Come in and give our team a lift on the defensive end. Help us get some stops. Help us get some transition buckets. Be a great screen-setter today. Understand my role for this team.”

He looked good while being very active and even had a short stint playing alongside Embiid at power forward. The 6-foot-9, 230-pounder also made Deandre Ayton work in the fourth quarter while Embiid was resting on the bench. Reed finished with two points, four rebounds, and one steal.

“It feels so good to win,” Reed said. “I’m just happy I was able to help.”

Monday marked Dario Saric’s seventh game against the Sixers after the team traded him, Robert Covington, and Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Jimmy Butler, Justin Patton, and a second-rounder on Nov. 12, 2018.

Saric failed to score point and grabbed a rebound in just three minutes of action. But he talked about his initial feelings about being traded.

“I was kind of surprised,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect. It was the first that happened in the middle of the season. I never thought it can happen like that. But you feel that it’s part of the job and you kind of move on.”

In addition to being two of the league’s top coaches, Doc Rivers and Suns coach Monty Williams are well-documented close friends.

Their friendship began as New York Knicks teammates. Rivers was a 30-year-old veteran and Williams was a 23-year-old rookie. Then once Rivers became a head coach, Williams played for him with the Orlando Magic.

“Unfortunately, I had to play for him,” Williams said jokingly. “And when I got into coaching, he was huge for me as far as understanding the dynamics of being an assistant, understanding what I needed to do, the differences of a player’s game and a coaching game day. And even with parenting, he’s one of the guys that likes to tell me to loosen up.”

But Williams will tell you the duo are opposites.

He pointed out that Rivers likes to golf, while he likes to fish.

“He’s a pretty boy,” Williams said. “You can twit it or tweet it. Put it on your doggone platform. He’s a country club guy. I like putting hooks in worms.”