Richaun Holmes Fills Shoes for Sixers

Orlando, Fla. – – With both of Philadelphia’s bigs out Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor with injuries, the 76ers needed

Okafor last year vs the Magic. (Kim Klement / USA Today Sports)

someone to step up. In tonight’s game vs. the Orlando Magic, it had everyone questioning who is this number 22.

Richaun Holmes was the 37th pick for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2015 draft and played his college career at Moraine Valley Community College and before transferring to Bowling Green.

Holmes made the best of his 42 minutes on the floor. He finished the game with 24 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists. He took advantage of the Magic’s poor interior defense and even silenced the crowd with a couple powerful dunks. Holmes also played aggressively on defense grabbing 5 offensive rebounds and fouling out of the game. Unfortunately for the Sixers, his monster performance wasn’t enough and the 76er’s lost in overtime 109 to 112.

Of course, Joel Embiid is the man in Philly. But, should Jahlil Okafor be worried about Holmes breakout performance? During the trade deadline Okafor was being discussed, but instead, the 76ers stunned everyone by trading forward Nerlens Noel. So far in March, Holmes is averaging 12.9 points a game and 6.3 rebounds compared to Okafor’s 13.4 points and 5.1 rebounds.  Once Okafor recovers from his right knee injury it’ll be interesting to see which big Philadelphia gives the minutes to and if the competition brings out the best in both players. For now, Richaun Holmes will continue to benefit from the extended minutes.

76ers

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
R. HolmesPF	42	11-19	1-4	1-1	5	9	14	4	1	1	1	6	-4	24
D. SaricPF	26	6-14	2-5	4-4	0	5	5	0	1	1	1	6	-8	18
R. CovingtonSF	45	9-22	3-9	3-3	5	8	13	0	4	2	2	5	+1	24
T.J. McConnellPG	34	6-15	0-2	4-4	0	1	1	11	3	0	3	0	-3	16
T. Luwawu-CabarrotSG	23	0-4	0-2	2-2	0	3	3	2	0	0	1	6	+5	2
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
S. LongPF	11	1-1	0-0	2-2	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	4	+1	4
S. RodriguezPG	19	0-8	0-1	0-0	1	2	3	4	0	0	0	1	+0	0
J. AndersonSG	27	0-2	0-2	1-2	0	7	7	1	2	0	2	4	-8	1
N. StauskasSG	39	6-17	3-9	5-6	1	4	5	2	2	0	5	2	+1	20
J. OkaforC	DNP-RIGHT KNEE INJURY
T. SplitterC	DNP-RIGHT CALF
G. HendersonSG	DNP-REST
TEAM		39-102	9-34	22-24	13	40	53	26	15	6	16	34		109
		38.2%	26.5%	91.7%

Magic

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
A. GordonPF	32	4-7	0-0	9-11	0	3	3	4	0	1	2	6	+3	17
T. RossSF	35	4-15	2-9	5-5	0	5	5	2	1	1	4	1	+0	15
N. VucevicC	36	10-23	0-1	6-6	5	8	13	2	1	0	0	2	+0	26
E. PaytonPG	31	5-9	0-0	0-0	5	8	13	4	3	1	4	5	+14	10
E. FournierSG	37	6-12	1-5	6-10	1	3	4	3	2	0	4	2	+6	19
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
J. GreenSF	16	1-3	0-0	2-2	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	-3	4
B. BiyomboC	17	3-5	0-0	1-1	2	4	6	0	0	1	0	3	+3	7
C.J. WatsonPG	4	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	-4	0
D.J. AugustinPG	18	1-5	1-1	2-2	1	2	3	1	1	0	2	0	-7	5
M. HezonjaSG	19	0-4	0-3	0-0	0	2	2	1	1	0	1	2	-5	0
J. MeeksSG	20	1-9	0-3	7-9	0	4	4	0	0	0	1	1	+8	9
D. RudezSF	DNP-COACH’S DECISION
C. WilcoxSG	DNP-COACH’S DECISION
TEAM		35-93	4-23	38-46	14	41	55	19	10	4	18	22		112
		37.6%	17.4%	82.6%