PHILADELPHIA — Tyrese Maxey is the star of the Philadelphia 76ers' show until further notice.

As the Sixers map out a plan for Joel Embiid's recovery from his meniscus injury, the first-time All-Star will be leading the way. It's nothing he hasn’t done already this season. But now he has to carry the biggest share of the workload for a yet-to-be-determined period of time.

The first go-around for Maxey in this current stretch of Embiid being out was a rousing success. He scored a career-best 51 points in a win over the Utah Jazz. But in the next game, he was shut down by the Brooklyn Nets in a blowout defeat, mustering up 23 points on 8-23 shooting. His experience this season (and in seasons past) of being the main option here and there should help as he steps into the spotlight without knowing when he'll step back out.

Maxey acknowledged the adjustment he will have to make in his mindset. Getting downhill to open up shots for his teammates and keeping an unshakable sense of aggression is extra important now that he will be the main option for multiple games rather than just the occasional one-off.

“My thing is I gotta get guys going, get guys’ confidence going more, I think, at the beginning of the games,” he said. “That will help us down the road…We're missing guys. We're missing pieces, so guys gotta step up. We're gonna have to go out there and compete extremely hard.”

This entire season has been a balancing act for Maxey, the lead guard who has to set up his teammates while staying alert in seeking chances for himself. Without Embiid, the pendulum is bound to swing a bit toward the latter. But it’s not all the way to that end. The need for him to do both is underscored even further when he's the Sixers' primary option.

The 76ers tried to spread the ball around against the Nets but Maxey was the only player who had a hope of penetrating the defense. Kelly Oubre Jr. at least supplemented his inefficient 3-14 shooting night and frequent drives by going 10-10 from the foul line. With numerous absences of key players, Philly had no choice but to get back to basics.

“You try to get in some simple actions, like pick-and-roll stuff. But they made it difficult 'cause they trapped and they did different things like that,” Maxey said. “So, you try to do some basic stuff, like the basic offense that you learn in like training camp. It's a lot of different lineups, a lot of guys that haven't played together, a lot of different situations. We've practiced a lot of lineups before but some of these lineups we haven't practiced 'cause we hadn't had the time to. It's hard, but we gotta still go out there and compete extremely hard and try to win games.”

The Sixers set on-ball screens for Maxey but the Nets brought their defenders up to the level, dissuading him from walking into pull-up threes or attacking off the screen. When the screener was guarded by Nic Claxton, the Nets blitzed Maxey high in the halfcourt, leaving him with no options but to get rid of the ball.

Nick Nurse wants the Sixers to get the ball moving to the open man in the brief window of time when two defenders are being pulled into Maxey's gravitational orbit. A four-on-three advantage should open up plenty of good looks.

“The biggest thing is — you guys hear me say this all the time: we gotta make the right play,” the 76ers head coach said. “If there's two on the ball, there's gotta be somebody open and we should be getting great shots against that. I think we're pretty good at handling it. We've handled the blitzing vs. Tyrese really well all year. Now, we gotta make sure the group that's out there now can do it as well. And then you're just gonna have to knock 'em down.”

Claxton's quickness allowed him to stay with Maxey in space and the Nets' array of long, athletic wings switched onto him if he beat his main defender, who was mainly Mikal Bridges. Especially on nights where Maxey isn’t lighting up the scoreboard, the guys around him need to pick up the slack. The 76ers and Maxey need to help each other in a serious way to survive Embiid's absence.

The 76ers are now 4-10 in games without Embiid this season. That record is certainly suboptimal but is made a tad worse given the games where Embiid and Maxey were out, or Embiid and numerous other starters were out. Such was the case against Brooklyn with Tobias Harris, Nico Batum and De'Anthony Melton all sitting out, though at least those three have hopes of potentially returning soon.

The mission staring Maxey in the face is to keep the 76ers afloat in a hyper-competitive Eastern Conference while Embiid heals. Such is the job of an All-Star, even a very young, first-time honoree.