Maxey has been creating a stir in the postseason
PHILADELPHIA » The hum begins when he rises from the bench, grows as he checks in at the scorer’s table and, when Tyrese Maxey walks onto the Wells Fargo Center floor, it becomes a roar of approval.
If nothing else grew clear during the first of what the 76ers hope will be four rounds of postseason fun, it was that Maxey has the fans’ attention.
“I think,” Doc Rivers said, “he’s found himself.”
With his growth on defense and his improving shot, Maxey has found an unexpected role as the backup point guard. But while he was finding himself, Rivers was finding him, too.
From the first of a five-game Wizards series when he played seven minutes to the fifth and final game when he played 26 minutes, Maxey’s exponential rise in night-to-night relevance was astonishing.
In the 129-112 Game 5 victory, all Sixers’ roles were massaged in the absence of Joel Embiid. Maxey’s expanded playing time, though, was more earned than stumbled upon.
In the series, he made 21 of 36 shots, including two of five from distance, had a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and played anything but like a 20-year-old rookie. At a time when Shake Milton was in a worrisome shooting slump, Maxey’s energy defined the Sixers’ depth as they advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third time in four years.
“I just wanted to help the team win,” Maxey said. “Whatever it took, that’s what I was willing to do.”
The Sixers will open Round 2 Sunday
afternoon at 1 against the visiting Atlanta Hawks, who lost two of three to the Sixers in the regular season. Both defeats were in a lateseason, two-game series at the Wells Fargo Center, one of which driving force Trae Young did not play.
A day off Thursday gave the Sixers more time to rest Embiid, who is listed as “day to day” as he treats a small meniscus tear in his right knee.
With Embiid unlikely for Game 1, Rivers is expected to start the lineup he did in Game 5 against Washington, keeping Ben Simmons up front and surrounding him with Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Seth Curry and Matisse Thybulle. The impact of Thybulle and Simmons at the defensive end should help limit Young’s downhill charges, and their length can be helpful against Clint Capela.
At some point, though, the Sixers will need an energy jolt.
Enter Maxey.
“Today, I had to go in there and bring energy,” Maxey said after the game Wednesday. “I was going to fly around on the defensive end and just try to make plays on offense. I just wanted to be solid.”
Maxey, the 21st overall pick in the last draft, was solid in the regular season, shooting 46.2 percent. Not known for his shooting, however, he shot only 30.1 percent from the arc.
Though he often dazzled, once dropping 39 on Denver, he occasionally
lagged at the defensive end, costing him playing time. But by the time the playoffs arrived, he was solid enough defensively to make Rivers include him into a deep playoff rotation.
“There was a lot of film work,” Maxey said. “It was kind of hard coming in. I only had like two days of training camp, so I had to learn everything on the fly. But once I had the time to learn everything, learn the system, learn the defensive coverages and how to be solid on defense, that really helped me.”
In Round 1, he helped the Sixers. “From the first playoff game, he has never been shy,” Curry said. “That’s what we need.”
And that’s what Sixers fans have come to appreciate.
“He has gotten significantly better over the season,” said Thybulle. “Every time he is called on, he shows up and he delivers.”
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NOTES » The Sixers averaged an NBAbest 124 points in the first round. … In collecting 28 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals Wednesday, Harris joined Allen Iverson, Hersey Hawkins, Charles Barkley, Maurice Cheeks, Moses Malone and Julius Erving as the only Sixers to reach at least a 25-5-3 postseason boxscore line since 1980. … The fifthseeded Hawks were 41-31 in the regular season.