For the casual NBA fan, Shake Milton’s name is most likely unrecognizable.
On Sunday afternoon, the young swingman from Southern Methodist Unversity tried to rewrite that narrative playing the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center.
Milton was the 54th pick in the 2018 NBA by the Dallas Mavericks and was promptly traded to the 76ers on the same night. The 23-year-old has seen substantial playing time this season with Philadelphia but has not been able to make a considerable impact for the team coming off the bench. Now that the Sixers are dealing with the loss of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid to injury, Milton can expect to see a lot more playing time in the coming weeks; taking full advantage of it on Sunday.
Facing off against the Clippers, one of the league’s best defensive teams, Milton scored 39 points on 14-of-20 shooting from the field (7-of-9 from three). Even with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, two of the league’s best defenders, trying to slow down Milton on offense, he could not be stopped. By making his first five three-pointers of the game, Milton now holds the NBA records for most consecutive made three-pointers.
Over the past three games, including the first five from Sunday, Milton was able to rack up 14 consecutive three-pointers made. The streak was broken after a miss from long range in the third quarter of Sunday’s game.
This season, the young guard has only managed a 7.6 points-per-game average and, although Milton does bring some length on defense, he is primarily seen as a rotation piece to give some of the team’s stars rest.
After Milton’s monstrous performance on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, coach Brett Brown will be forced to give Milton some respectable playing time moving forward.
