Robert Covington channeled his inner Carson Wentz with a full-court inbounds 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.
The background
"I pretty much played [football] 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 [we practice]," Covington said. "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."
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The mindset
"At first, I was thinking about hitting Nerlens (Noel)," Covington said. "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 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," Covington said. "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," Covington said. "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, two assists and four steals. This play was part of his impressive recent stretch in which he's become one of only two players this season with consecutive games of 20-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and three-plus steals. The other player to do so witnessed Covington's pass: Kings center DeMarcus Cousins.
