PHILADELPHIA — Tyrese Maxey recorded 30 points, seven assists and zero turnovers in the Philadelphia 76ers' win over the Atlanta Hawks. Although his final stat line was nice, it wasn’t the most outstanding game from the Sixers guard.

Maxey turned it on late in the game to help the Sixers win a shootout they shouldn’t have been in to begin with. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter on 4-6 shooting from the floor and 7-8 from the charity stripe. Thanks to his great scoring in crunch time, Philly survived a strong effort from the Trae Young-less Hawks.

Nick Nurse loved what he saw from Maxey when he really got going. One of his assistant coaches took notice that the Sixers guard was cruising to a high point total on one of his less-impressive games.

“The first thing I said to the coaching staff afterwards was, ‘He made a lot of plays in the fourth quarter,’ and one of them said, ‘He's pretty amazing. He can get 30 when he's not having a very good night.’ So, he ended up having a really good night 'cause he made a lot of big shots there late,” Nurse said. “Again, he's capable. He's explosive. He's capable of putting a run like that together at any time. And it was a good time tonight and to stay with it. I think he was just in a great groove most of the night. But he came through when it mattered.”

It's the true mark of a star player when they post gaudy stats on their off-games. It has become commonplace for Joel Embiid to get to 30 even in games he plays badly in. Maxey's not there yet but the fact that he’s at the level where 30-point games aren’t all that amazing says a lot.

“I just wanted to be extremely aggressive,” the Sixers guard said of his fourth quarter. “I didn't like how I played at the beginning of our second-unit stint in the second quarter. I feel like I just was out there and I wasn't aggressive. I wasn't demanding the ball and I wasn't going to let that happen twice. So, it was better to at the beginning of the fourth. And then got a quick break and got to go back in and hit a big shot and make some free throws and got some stops and we won. So it was great.”

On top of taking over the game down the stretch – which was extra important after an Embiid injury scare — Maxey had another zero-turnover game. For him to be able to make plays and create his own shots like he can while avoiding big mistakes is huge.

Maxey feeling the need to be aggressive is a great step in the right direction for him and the Sixers, who constantly tell him that he has the green light to go after defenses.

“We keep telling them, keep reminding him he has to be aggressive, especially at the start of a game,” Embiid said. “But he was great. He controlled the whole game. He attacked, got to the free-throw line, made some big shots, made some big plays.”