PHILADELPHIA — After a brutal week in which he needed to talk through mental struggles with his parents, Tyrese Maxey is back to dominating on the court. The Philadelphia 76ers' young star has been great for the team in recent games and has expanded his impact to the defensive end. While he may be a bench player, he's not just a bench player for the Sixers. His impact is vital for the team to reach its potential.
Maxey's defense helped him in a bounce-back performance against the New York Knicks and also made him very helpful in the Sixers' latest wins over the Brooklyn Nets and Houston Rockets. His ability to keep up with opponents in the backcourt allows him to delay offenses and tire out opponents.
“Get into the ball every single time a pick-and-roll comes and try to pick up the ball, make guys tired,” Tyrese Maxey said when asked what he looks to do on defense. “Make them exert energy and exert clock. So now when they get the ball past halfcourt, they’re getting right at 16, 15 [seconds on the shot clock]. Now they get into the offense with 13 seconds. It's hard to run offense in 13 seconds. You got probably one, two [passes], then you gotta shoot.”
In the win over the Rockets, Maxey scored 26 points on 8-14 shooting while recording two steals. Doc Rivers said that the Sixers coaching staff is helping Maxey understand how he can impact the game without the ball.
“I said it the other day — when you get across halfcourt, you get really small. But when you're on the other side and you pick up the ball and you pressure, you can use your quickness and be big in a lot of ways and he's doing that,” Rivers said. “And on the halfcourt, we're getting them to be more physical…We need it.”
Maxey came into the league with the potential to be a good defender but so far in his career, he has been known only for his offense. With Joel Embiid serving as the clean-up guy behind him, he can start spreading his wings as an aggressive defender again.
“When I was younger, like in high school, I would get a lot of steals,” Maxey explained. “But once I kind of got to college, I got scared to make a mistake and come out the game with Coach [John Calipari]. So I wasn't reaching as much, I wasn't gambling. But now I can be a little more aggressive now because, of course, we got the big fella behind us and you got help defense. It's been pretty good.”
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