Perhaps at no point in Saturday’s match-up with Phoenix did momentum seem to hang more in the balance than it did with two minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Suns led for the better part of the period, and veteran Mirza Teletovic had just sunk a step-back two-point jump shot to give his side a 75-74 edge. The Talking Stick Resort Arena crowd of 17,548 was back into the game, and eager to see the Suns wipeout a deficit that, at one point, had been as large as 16 points.The 76ers, and specifically Nik Stauskas, ensured there would be no such comeback from the home team. Shortly after Teletovic knocked down that fadeaway, Stauskas rose up over the Bosnian and nailed a three-pointer. Phoenix would then commit one of its 15 turnovers. On the Sixers’ ensuing trip down the floor, Stauskas, with his foot toeing the arc, sunk a pick-and-pop 23-footer from the right wing. P.J. Tucker missed an early-shot-clock lay-up, which quickly set up another Sixers possession. With the Sixers in the half court, Stauskas impressively navigated through a congested lane, and was sprung free to the right corner courtesy of a Carl Landry pick. Stauskas promptly poured in three more points. Moments later, in the final seconds of the third frame, Kendall Marshall punctuated an 11-0 Sixers’ run with a triple of his own. Just like that, in the span of 98 seconds, the Sixers had regained control, with Stauskas accounting for the first eight points of their surge. “It was good,” Stauskas said of his 17-point, three three-pointer performance at Phoenix. His most emphatic deposit was a fourth-quarter transition dunk, which lifted the Sixers’ lead to 13 points. “We won. That’s the main thing. We felt like we had some energy to us. Everyone brought energy. Everyone was really positive all game.” Reflecting on the contributions he made to the Sixers’ late-third-quarter push, the second-year Michigan product added, “It felt good, especially just because I’ve been working so hard, like I’ve been putting in so much time outside of practice. To see that pay off in moments like that, and to help my team get a win, that’s the reason why you put in the extra work, so it’s really rewarding to see that.”In Wednesday’s 113-100 defeat in Milwaukee, Stauskas didn’t see the court, held out as a “coach’s decision.” Prior to that, he had gone scoreless in four straight appearances, part of a an eight-game stretch in which he converted nine of 29 field goal attempts, and eight of 19 three-point shots. He went home to Ontario to spend Christmas with his family, and clear his head a bit.Hoping to get Stauskas going, Brett Brown turned to a philosophy utilized by Gregg Popovich, his old boss in San Antonio, saying, “Pop was amazing at never letting people rot on the bench…so you throw him a bone to keep him alive. I’d like to claim that, but I can’t. I put [Stauskas] in because JaKarr [Sampson] and Jerami [Grant] were in foul trouble. And he just jumped in the game right off the bat, and so I played him, and rewarded him. You’re going to reward Nik Stauskas and seeing if he can try and repeat that performance.”While the lasting impression that Stauskas left in the Sixers’ 111-104 victory over the Suns was his second-half offense, the guard proved himself a worthy of his minutes through first-half defense and hustle. “I think it was really just my mindset coming into the game,” said Stauskas, who scored 15 of his points following the intermission. “I just focused on being physical, being scrappy, playing good defense. I felt like if I did that, the rest of the stuff would kind of just come, and I won’t think about it as much, and that’s exactly what happened. I was just playing, having fun.”Player and coach alike cited Stauskas’ work ethic, and the time he put in with assistant Billy Lange as key ingredients to the 22-year old’s turnaround. “My jumpshot specifically, just my footwork, staying with it, following through, landing in the same spot,” Stauskas explained, describing recent points of emphasis he’s focsed on. “We do a lot of stuff in the pick and roll, so all kinds of reads, hitting the roller, hitting the weakside corner, in and out the big off the pick and roll going to the rim. All kinds of reads. I really owe it to Billy. He’s spent a lot of time with me, and I think it’s paying off.””I give Billy Lange a lot of credit, and I give Nik a lot of credit,” said Brown, “To stay mentally fresh, and mentally spirited, and stay physically fresh and physically able to jump into an NBA game, where you really haven’t played NBA basketball…for a while. I know this, there isn’t anybody on the team that works harder. I look at him and say I respect the work you put in. I respect you never caved in mentally.”
