Over the past week, one of the biggest storylines around the Philadelphia 76ers has been the play of Jared McCain. He has been given the chance to get extended

The other standout for the Sixers in this game was rookie Jared McCain. He came alive down the stretch en route to posting a career-high 27 points. Without the production from this duo, Philly would have found themselves with a 1-8 record to start the year.

Well, he was on an island with Hornets star LaMelo Ball and just clamped him up to force a critical shot clock violation with the game on the line. The defense McCain played on Sunday shows the steps forward he continues to take and coach Nick Nurse sees the improvement.

But the early ascent of Jared McCain into someone the team can confidently draw up crunch-time offense for is near the top of the slim list of positives. McCain accounted for 27 points, just one turnover and a third of the Sixers’ 3-pointers in 31 minutes in Sunday’s 107-105 win.