PHILADELPHIA – For the first time since James Harden went down with a foot injury, Tyrese Maxey has found his shooting groove. He had a typical Maxey game as the Sixers won 121-109 against Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks.

Maxey attacked the Hawks defense looking to score instead of trying to draw a foul. He let it fly from deep with confidence and shot 3-5 from deep on his way to scoring 26 points and dishing a season-high nine assists.

Losing Harden meant that Maxey had to take up a bigger responsibility and initially, it looked to be too much. However, once Maxey got into a scoring rhythm again, he mixed in some playmaking when he had teammates open. Leaning toward what he does well to open up shots for his Sixers teammates was a major recipe for success.

“The past three games without James, I knew I had to do more facilitating for other guys. And I think that changed my aggressive mindset,” Maxey told reporters after the Sixers win. “I talked about it last time I was up [at the podium] in Atlanta. I can't play that way. I mean, I gotta be aggressive. Scoring is what I do. So me going downhill looking to score, looking to be aggressive making Capela help and Frank [Kaminsky] help, then I can get the pocket pass [Embiid]. Me going all the way downhill, they had to come up, step up and help [on] me. I can spread out the shooters and lob to [Embiid]. So I think that was my biggest adjustment today.”

Over the first three games of Harden's absence, Maxey shot 29.7 percent from the field and the Sixers' offense plummeted. Doc Rivers said that he needed to play better and the budding star did just that. Maxey is at his best when he's barreling toward defense and what makes him so special is that he still has delicate shooting touch and the smarts to make the right pass.

“Last game I thought I played with a passive mindset. I can’t play that way. That’s not who I am. That’s not what this team needs me to be. They need me to be aggressive for myself and for others,” Tyrese Maxey said. “It’s not always going to be scoring and scoring, especially with James not here. It’s going to be me getting to the paint, collapsing defenses out, spreading out the shooters, and pocket passing to Joel, and getting guys where they need to be… It’s a process and it was good today.”

Maxey will still have an immense workload while Harden recovers but in the win against the Hawks, he showed that he can handle it by simply playing his usual game.