NEW YORK (AP) — Shake Milton couldn’t wait for next weekend. Once Cam Thomas got hot, Milton started competing at a playoff level even in an otherwise meaningless finale.
The 76ers guard scored 20 points and chased Thomas all over the floor in the fourth quarter to keep him at 46 points, and Philadelphia beat the Brooklyn Nets 134-105 on Sunday.
“I just tried to take the challenge,” Milton said. “Didn’t want him to get 50. Tried to get everybody to be on the same page to not let him get 50. But that’s just part of the competitive nature, that’s all.”
The teams face each other next weekend to begin the first round of the NBA playoffs. Doc Rivers joked that all he wanted from the game was to go quickly enough so he could watch the Masters, but saw what it meant to his players when they started double-teaming Thomas without asking him.
“We went into our playoff prevent defense,” he said.
Mikal Bridges was the only starter for either team to play, and he did so for just four seconds. It was his 83rd game starting this season, extending his streak to 392 straight to begin his career. Then he committed a foul and left the game.
The rest of the day belonged to the backups, with scoring championship Joel Embiid and assist leader James Harden waiting until next weekend to suit up again.
Thomas reached 40 points for the fourth time this season after doing it in three consecutive games in early February before falling out of the rotation after the Nets brought in four new starters in the trades for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
He had 42 after three quarters Sunday and made two quick baskets after checking back into the game with 9:16 remaining. Milton soon after began defending the Nets guard well away from the basket, even when he didn’t have the ball.
Even after Milton departed in the final minutes, the 76ers continued running second defenders at Thomas to keep him from scoring again, adding some spice to an otherwise meaningless matchup.
“It…
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