Sixers: Shake Milton is slowly getting back up to speed post-injury

When Shake Milton landed awkwardly on his ankle in an eventual win over the Sacramento Kings, it sent the Sixers into a bit of a tailspin.

Suddenly without their fourth-best scorer, the Sixers dropped three of their next five contests, including already tough bouts against the Jazz, Trail Blazers, and Suns, and had to have starters like Joel Embiid drop 50 versus the Bulls just to pull out a W.

Now granted, this wasn’t particularly unprecedented or particularly surprising. The Sixers have struggled all season when they are a man or more down because of their roster’s top-loaded composition and have had to get the bulk of their points from the starting five in virtually every contest to remain competitive, especially without Milton in the fray.

But now that Milton is back and finally looking healthy, the Sixers may soon be able to finally count on their reserves to shoulder a bit more of the load moving forward.

Shake Milton’s return could finally bring balance to the Sixers roster.

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Shake Milton’s first four games back with the Sixers post-injury were sort of a mixed bag.

Sure, he averaged 10.25 points and 3.25 rebounds a game as he worked his way back into the rotation, but Milton’s outside shot was about as consistent as the Sixers’ bench as a whole – hitting 33 percent of his shots from beyond the arc, including a two-game 0-5 shooting streak versus Dallas and Cleveland.

Needless to say, after watching Milton turn in an underwhelming performance against the Cavs in the Sixers’ first game without Tobias Harris, he’d surely need to turn things around as the team traveled further West to the land of the NFL Combine and St. Elmo Steak House, Indianapolis.

And to his credit, Milton turned in one of his best performances of the still young 2021 calendar year.

Facing off against a Pacers squad without Jeremy Lamb and Carvis LeVert, Milton logged a team-high 30 minutes for the Sixers and finished out the game as the top man on either team – scoring a season-high 26 points on 14 shots while draining 3-5 shots from beyond the arc. Milton looked decisive with the ball, only recording two turnovers versus four assists, and was able to score the ball from all three levels.

Milton looked equally comfortable playing both on and off the ball alongside everyone from Ben Simmons to an on-again Tyrese Maxey and was able to take whatever the Pacers gave him and still come out of it with points on the board.

He broke a few ankles, drained some wide-open 3s, and delivered a wicked alley-oop to Matisse Thybulle that has to be seen to be fully appreciated.

See what I mean? Beautiful.

Now to be fair, this was just one game, but if you recall back to last spring, it was just one game that got the “Milton Hype Train” blazing out of the station following a 39 point performance against Doc Rivers’ former team. Maybe this “bell ringing” performance is enough to get Milton rolling right before the Sixers break for the All-Star game following their go-home game against the Utah Jazz.

If Milton can do just that and maintain his momentum until his team returns to the court on March 11th, it’ll be incredibly beneficial moving forward, as the Sixers will be playing five games in seven-nights during their first week back.

Is Shake Milton the Sixers’ most important player? No, that would be Joel Embiid, followed by Ben Simmons, and then Tobias Harris, but the Milkman’s son very well may be the team’s fourth most important player, as his 13.4 bench points per game just aren’t manufacturable from any of the team’s other options. Assuming Milton can recapture his early-season form and once again give the Sixers some much-needed bench output, the Sixers could be in very good fortune heading into the second half of the 2020-21 NBA season.