The Anatomy of Robert Covington's Full-court Inbound Pass

Robert Covington channeled his inner Carson Wentz with a full-court inbound pass that culminated in a spectacular dunk by Gerald Henderson in Monday's comeback win over the Kings. 

How did Covington pull it off with such precision?

The former multi-sport athlete explained how he put his football skills to use with just three seconds left on the clock in the third quarter. The long-distance assist gave the Sixers a five-point lead heading into the fourth.

By the way, Wentz himself was impressed too.

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The background
"I pretty much played my whole life (through freshman year of high school)," Covington said. "I played numerous positions (including quarterback). My dad taught us, we all had an arm. Even to this day, I still can probably throw a good 50 yards. My longest pass in high school was 70 yards."

The preparation
"That's a play (the Sixers practice). That's something we've run numerous times throughout the year. It's worked before. To that extent, that length, that's the farthest pass I've made. I'm always the inbounder."

The mindset
"At first, I was thinking about hitting Nerlens (Noel). Then he stopped and G kept going. I saw the two defenders kind of step up still, so I said the best thing for me to do is just throw it towards the rim and see what happens. If they they get a deflection or a turnover, it's still at that end of the court and they still have a long way to go."

The timing
"It wasn't easy … It's just a matter of reading it. I saw that G was open for a good second. I just put the ball on the money and trusted that it was going to get there and it did."

The end result
"I saw it veer off right where G was heading to. I didn't expect G to dunk it like that, but it made it that much more exciting."

Covington finished the game with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals. This play was part of his impressive recent stretch in which he became only one of two players this season with consecutive games of 20-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and 3-plus steals. The other player do so witnessed Covington's pass: King's center DeMarcus Cousins.

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