The Philadelphia 76ers found themselves in a back-and-forth, shot-for-shot contest against the Dallas Mavericks. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving combined for 82 points to lead the Mavs to a 133-126 win over the Sixers despite 91 points from Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey.

Maxey had a great game, scoring 29 points and leading a comeback that cut a 25-point deficit to four. Doc Rivers decided to move him back to the starting lineup after he had come off the bench for 17 of Philly's last 18 games. He explained his reasoning why after the game.

“We just wanted a quick start,” Rivers explained to reporters after the Sixers loss. “We felt last night that if we could get off to a quick start then we would be great. We did offensively, we just couldn’t get stops. We couldn’t get stops the whole night. It’s amazing, we shot 57 percent and it really wasn’t in a lot of transition because they scored almost every time. Whenever we did get stops, that’s when we made the run in the fourth quarter.”

Tyrese Maxey getting back into the starting lineup did indeed help the Sixers get out to a quick start. After a great game against the Miami Heat, Rivers decided to fight fire with fire and have Maxey in the starting group over De'Anthony Melton, who doesn't offer the offensive upside but is better equipped to help on defense.

Ironically, after several inconsistent and bad games coming off the bench, Maxey had his best moments of the game with a lineup comprised of bench guys. He took over the beginning of the fourth quarter, making some truly incredible shots to get the Sixers back into it after watching the Mavs make just about every shot they took. Rivers is seemingly looking to tinker with his rotation so it remains to be seen if Maxey is back as a starter or good.