PHILADELPHIA — For the majority of the early season, Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey has had slow starts. He normally eases his way into games and gets going in the second half.
However, that pattern changed in Monday’s blowout win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Maxey finished with 31 points on 9-for-20 shooting with eight assists, but he had 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting with six assists in the first half. He came out aggressive from the jump, something the Sixers need more of from him.
“He had mentioned that he was just going to come out and be way more aggressive at the start tonight,” explained coach Nick Nurse. “He did. Just ‘Man, I gotta get into the game sooner’ was his comment. Obviously, he did that, right? I think that he was moving so good.”
The two-man game between Maxey and Joel Embiid in this one was tough to stop. The Lakers tried to throw Max Christie on Maxey, but it wasn’t enough. The young guard out of Kentucky was terrific from the jump.
“Even all that back and forth between him and Joel, but when he was turning on the jets, he was getting separation for either for 3 left or turning the corner and I thought he played a little more physical than he’s been playing, too,” Nurse added. “He decided to instead of getting run into, he started to do in the running into a few times when he turned the corner with a lot of speed and put his shoulder down. I think his mindset was going in there to go a little earlier.”
Overall, Maxey has been having a helluva season, and the Sixers are winning. So the slow starts can be forgiven, but when he has the right mindset from the jump as he did on Monday, that changes things for Philadelphia. It is a much better team when he is focused the way he was against the Lakers. He knows it.
“I just felt like I was — like the past I don’t know maybe like six, seven games like in the first quarter, I was just kind of out there just trying to go with the flow and I think that hurts our team more than helps us,” Maxey explained. “When I say aggressive, I don’t mean just shooting the ball every time. I mean be aggressive, trying to get to the paint, trying to kick out the shooters, and then also look for my shot as well.”
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