Saturday 5 September 2020 16:04, UK
Montrezl Harrell won the NBA's Sixth Man Award, keeping the honour for the league's top reserve with the Los Angeles Clippers for the third straight season.
Harrell ended the two-year run of team-mate Lou Williams, who finished third and gave the Clippers four winners in the last five years. Harrell and Williams helped the Clippers have the league's highest-scoring bench.
Harrell received 58 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sports writers and broadcasters, earning 397 points.
Dennis Schroder of Oklahoma City was second with 35 first-place votes and 328 points, while Williams got the other seven first-place votes and 127 points.
The Clippers averaged 51.5 points from their bench, continuing to get strong play from their second unit. Before Williams' consecutive awards, Jamal Crawford won the last of his three awards in 2016.
"He epitomises what a Sixth Man of the Year Award winner is and trust me, were getting used to them here with Lou Williams and Jamal Crawford in the past," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "To have Trez join the group is really amazing."
Harrell is a 6ft 8in force of energy, outworking fellow big men on the boards and outracing them on fast breaks. He averaged a career-best 18.6 points in 63 games, including two starts, through March 11.
Williams presented the award to Harrell at practice, and Harrell wore a shirt with Williams' picture on it to his press conference.
"It was amazing for your team-mate, a guy that you look at as a mentor, a vet in this game who you would love to have your career go as long as his," Harrell said.
"Like I said, a guy who was the carbon copy that could be presented as this could be his award, man. He's won three of them."
But the 26-year-old Harrell, in his fifth NBA season, was just a little better this time in the eyes of the voters.
He led the league with 11 double-doubles off the bench and had four 30-point games, tied for the most. With he and Williams leading the way, the Clippers' bench outscored their opponents in 53 of 64 games before the season was suspended.
