Getty Sixers rookie guard Tyrese Maxey was a force for Philadelphia in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey left the Las Vegas Summer League to participate in a youth summer camp in his hometown of Garland, Texas. His involvement was pre-approved by the team, but the youngster’s absence was felt in back-to-back losses.
The Sixers fell 100-80 to the Boston Celtics on Saturday night, then dropped one in overtime to the Minnesota Timberwolves 99-96 on Sunday. Maxey had been the best player on the court prior to departing. He averaged 26.0 points and 4.5 assists while shooting 50% from the field in two games (29.3 minutes). The Sixers concluded summer league play with a 2-2 record.
Meanwhile, a video of Maxey from the youth summer camp went viral after he schooled his dad with a crazy crossover. Shades of Allen Iverson. Tyrone Maxey is his son’s biggest supporter and coached him as an assistant at South Garland High School. Tyrese’s juke move on Tyrone was all in good fun. It also elicited jaw-dropping cheers from everyone watching it in real time.
Tyrone, who played two years of college ball at Washington State, ran Tyrese through “aggressive training” methods growing up, per Kyle Tucker of The Athletic. He taped every game his son played in starting in the fourth grade.
“Kids don’t like to be told what they’re doing wrong,” Tyrone told The Athletic in 2019. “But I think he’d say now that it’s been a blessing for him. I’ve been a basketball junkie my entire life, which means I have a lot of knowledge to share, and I just gave him every last bit of it to try to prepare him for this next level — and the one after that.”
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Sixers Missed Maxey’s Play-Making Ability
The Sixers could have used Maxey’s firepower in their final two summer league games, both losses. The second-year guard out of Kentucky has proven to be a rising star dating back to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals when he jump-started the squad with 16 points in 29 minutes. He was the first player off the bench after Ben Simmons got into early foul trouble.
Brian Adams defined Tyrese Maxey’s main goals for Summer League as taking control of the team & “being the point guard”.
Adds that developing his ability to space the floor w 3s, whether on spot-ups, 1v1, or pnr.
Mentions the need to make defenses pay for going under screens.
Sixers assistant coach Brian Adams commented on how much they missed him on Saturday night after losing to Boston. Maxey creates opportunities for others with his ability to attack the rim. Frank Mason III took over his starting role at point guard against Boston and Minnesota.
“Maxey’s obviously, especially at this level, he’s a talented point guard in general, but he’s at this level, he’s even that much,” Adams told reporters, via Sixers Wire. “Any time you lose your point guard, your team is going to suffer from the standpoint of that’s been your leader the whole camp and whatnot, at the same time though, we were ready for this, we prepared for it, I thought Frank did a pretty good job he was very aggressive, he got downhill.”
Maxey Shouts Out Paul Reed
With Maxey out, Paul Reed shouldered the the load and filled up the stat sheet. The 6-foot-8 forward from DePaul tallied 27 points, 20 rebounds, four assists, four steals, four blocks in 34 minutes. After the game, Maxey honored him with an appreciation post on Twitter.