Sixers vs. Bulls Postgame Quotes: “We ran probably five plays in a row going to him.”

Brett Brown

On Furkan Korkmaz’s performance tonight…

To say it was incredible would be too dramatic, but it’s a heck of story, just where he was and where he is. For us to see him, and he’s young – you can’t forget his birth certificate, for us to see him come in and do JJ [Redick] like stuff, and be that type of a bomber, that was different to what we have as it relates to our current skillset. We put him in a bunch of stuff, and we ran probably five plays in a row going to him. I had flashbacks of JJ, like we jumped into JJ’s package for him [Furkan]. He changed the game. He gave us a spark. I don’t remember JJ dunking like that. The longshot and his bam, bam, bam, to get quick points and buckets, really fueled us and our defense. He was our bell ringer tonight.

On how gratifying it has been to see Furkan make himself into an NBA player…

It’s for sure gratifying. I’m assuming that the people in the room, the Philadelphia writers, know that he is quality people. He’s a genuine person and you’re proud of that, too. The ‘good things happen to good people’ type belief. He’s put in the time and to his credit, he came in and changed the landscape of an NBA game and he did it quite emphatically. It wasn’t like it was swept under the carpet, he did it where ESPN and all of his teammates, more importantly, felt his success.

On what he can carry onto the road from the two home wins…

The intensity defensively. I think the pride of learning of how we are going to guard people, the game plan. There are many layers to it…if we look at our fourth period defense, I don’t know what math would tell us, but I would suspect that it would tell us that we are pretty darn good at home, especially in close-out quarters.

Ben Simmons

On playing with teammates that come off the bench…

It’s huge. When guys get comfortable, learn when to get their shots in and where, it just makes things easier. Everybody’s trying to find out and figure out where their shots are going to come from and what they need to do to help this team win and I’m glad guys are figuring it out.

On what he thought was the most impressive thing about Furkan’s night…

He stayed locked in. He hasn’t gone off track if he’s not playing as many minutes. When he gets the opportunity, he’s ready. And defense, he stepped up a lot. He’s had a lot of guys go at him and he’s taken those challenges upon himself to get better and be a better defensive player.

On being the key to the defense…

I think I’m just learning. I was best with height, speed and length, so I try to use that to the best of my ability defensively. I know I can be a huge part in terms of that and help this team get wins just by playing defense.

Furkan Korkmaz

On how he felt about tonight’s game…

I feel really good as a player. When you do some stuff like that out there…it was really fun.

On how he was able to get the looks he got tonight…

Everybody saw that I was really feeling it, and then they just tried to find me. I also got good open looks. I think as a team, we really focused on moving the ball today, we took the good shots today, and then we executed the game plan well.

On his mentality as shooter…

I know the expectation from the coaching staff and my teammates when I go on the court. I know that it doesn’t matter if I miss it or if I make it, I just need to take the open shots. As team, I think that’s what we need. Somedays, as a team, we are feeling really good shooting. Sometimes, especially on the road, our percentage goes down. Our team needs to carry this game to the roads, my personal performance too.

Jim Boylen

On the way the team played…

Let’s start with what I liked. I liked the 34 points in transition. I thought our defense was very good. We had a few breakdowns in the second half, but overall, they average 109 and they scored 100 on their home floor. I didn’t like our discipline in the second half offensively, I think we had nine turnovers, and we had some opportunities. We did have some good looks in some situations that I thought we could capitalize on and we didn’t, and that was kind of the difference in the game. Korkmaz gets loose from us a little bit, makes some really tough shots and that happens in this league, but to hold a team to 100 on their home floor, we’ve got to try to score 101 and we didn’t do that.

We try to play hard and play together. I thought defensively at times we were really good, knocking some balls loose and running. We knew we had to score early in the clock against their defense. They’re a very good defensive team, so it’s just kind of how we play…we play hard and try to play together, and we have to do it at the defensive end. That helps our running game.

On how Lauri Markkanen can play more aggressive…

I just want him to be aggressive in his opportunities and be as aggressive as he can. He handles the ball in transition, and he rebounds the ball offensively. He had a couple opportunities there. He slashed to the basket in the first half, got a couple great dunks and plays. We got to keep our energy up and we’ve got to get him involved.

Lauri Markkanen

On what broke down in the second half…

I’m sure it’s a little bit of both [flow of the game and the offense]. I know I can probably attack the rim a little bit more often and be aggressive and obviously, just try to get into my spots. I just didn’t feel that I had the opportunities that I could really attack or close them out on. I just tried to play the system and find the openings.

On his relationship with Coach and his ability to request more minutes…

Yeah. Obviously, he goes with what and how the game is going and who is rolling and who is on the floor from there. So that’s it. I’m ready when he calls. I feel like we have a good relationship, so I don’t mind talking to him. We have conversations pretty often and we really haven’t talked about that too much because I—you know the situation and that’s the way we’re going to run.

On his development this year…

I said it after last game; I’ve had my good moments and then I don’t. I think now I’m getting my rhythm back in my shots, but obviously I can be more aggressive. Still, it’s a different system that we’re running and there are different spots that my shots are coming from, so it’s still different, but I can still do both.