“Podignite Mau010dka!”
I assume that’s what Dario Saric screamed after T.J. McConnell followed his game-winning basket with a game-sealing steal in the finals seconds of the 76ers’ win against the Magic last night. The Sixers players cleared the bench and mobbed the ecstatic Master of Grit himself, much like they did after his similar buzzer-beating jumper against the Knicks last month, and they all breathed a sigh of relief after ending a five-game skid.
While McConnell was deemed the Sixer most worthy of a post-game interview with Molly Sullivan and he’ll be the one who makes the highlight reel on SportsCenter, it was Saric who put the Sixers in a position for McConnell’s late-game heroics to happen at all.