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Tyrese Maxey had zero turnovers in his latest showing as the Sixers’ new starting point guard. More importantly, the second-year guard swarmed on the defensive end. He took turns guarding Lonzo Ball and Zach Lavine and kept them in check.
It wasn’t a dominating performance by any stretch, but it was a really good one. Maxey finished with 14 points and six assists in 37 minutes. He was extremely efficient and explosive at times – maybe not as aggressive as Doc Rivers would have liked. The head coach took a subtle jab at the youngster after Wednesday’s game and challenged him to attack the basket more.
“Yeah, I liked him today, I didn’t love him today honestly,” Rivers told reporters. “I didn’t think he was at the basket as much as he could’ve been. You know just gotta be more aggressive. I thought we put him back in that second group and he let everybody else handle the ball and we were trying to explain to him that’s why you’re on the floor for you to go downhill and make plays for the shooters, so we’ll get that corrected.”
Maxey’s biggest highlight came on a play he wasn’t even involved in. His name was trending on Twitter for the 21-year-old’s reaction to Joel Embiid’s thunderous, game-saving block on DeMar DeRozan with 10 seconds left.
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Don’t Sleep on Seth Curry
The emergence of Seth Curry as the Sixers’ go-to guy has been surprising to most. He has long been billed as a three-point specialist, a guy pigeon-holed into catch-and-shoot opportunities, someone who can’t create off the dribble. Not anymore.
“People that don’t watch the games maybe,” Curry said of his nay-sayers. “I have always been able to put the ball on the floor and score and shoot from the midrange get to the rim and do different things. Me with my size I’m not just going to stand there and get up a lot of threes without another element, so I have always worked on adding different things to my game.”
Curry scored a team-high 22 points against Chicago, including a whirling dervish pull-up jumper that essentially iced it. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out three dimes. Curry is the player – not Joel Embiid – that the Sixers are looking for with the game on the line.
“He has been incredible,” Embiid said of Curry. “I mean his shot-making ability especially with me struggling all over the floor and just shooting the ball and making the normal shots that I usually make has been you know amazing.”
No Rest for the Weary
The Sixers hopped a flight directly from Philadelphia to Detroit following their latest victory. They will play their fifth game in eight days coming off a four-game homestand where they went undefeated at Wells Fargo Center. Philadelphia (6-2) sits in second place in the Eastern Conference – doing it without Ben Simmons, doing it without Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Joel Embiid for stretches.
“It’s big I mean gotta take care of home court,” Curry said. “No matter what the circumstance is going on, who is in or out of the lineup we gotta find ways to win at home if we want a good seat in the playoffs so we did that as far and everyone is pitching in at different times.”
Next up, a road date versus the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, November 4 at 7 p.m. They’ll get a rematch against the Bulls in Chicago on Saturday, November 6 at 8 p.m. Then the Sixers return home for three straight contests.
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