Hoiberg has high praise for Tony Snell after big performance vs. 76ers

By foxsports
Published

It's been an up and down season for Tony Snell. He's been a starter and a regular rotation player for the Bulls, thanks mainly to Mike Dunleavy's prolonged absence due to injury. 

Snell has had plenty of scoreless nights, but he was the spark that ignited his team in the third quarter of Monday night's win over the 76ers. And head coach Fred Hoiberg had high praise for him afterward, via Bulls.com:

Snell is going to remain in the rotation because of his athleticism on defense and his ability to knock down shots from three-point distance at better than 41 percent. But it sure helps the Bulls out if he can provide the level of scoring and rebounding he was able to in this one.

They did so thanks to the all around brilliant play of Tony Snell, who had a season high 16 points, 13 in the decisive third quarter, a career high 11 rebounds, two steals and what looked like three more the scorers’ missed and basically inspiring the Bulls to their best quarter of the season, a 34-12 third quarter that relentlessly pushed the Bulls to their biggest lead of the season during the fourth quarter.

“I think Tony impacted the game every way you possibly can on the basketball floor,” said Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg. “He rebounded, he defended, he was getting to the rim, he was knocking down shots, he got himself to the free throw line. When he’s out there, he’s obviously a guy who can defend for us. He did a great job on J.J. Redick a couple of games ago and he defended Eric Gordon very well in the last game and he had the job tonight of guarding (Isaiah) Canaan, who can really heat it up. When you get that offensive output from Tony and the rebounding makes us a very good basketball team. He did everything for us.”