The Philadelphia 76ers were forced to play under some tough circumstances on Saturday. They were not able to play with a full cast of players due to health and safety protocols and they also did not have too much rest after not getting back to Philadelphia from New York until the wee hours of Saturday morning.
That forced the Sixers to play four rookies heavy minutes on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets and it was a crash course for them.
Tyrese Maxey took full advantage of his opportunity putting up a stat line of 39 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and he had two steals in the loss. Maxey joined Allen Iverson in the rookie record books for Philadelphia and he showed off his full offensive arsenal all night long.
“He was great,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We needed him to be and we told him that before the game. He didn’t do it in a way where it looked like he was searching shots. He did it in a way where he ran the offense and got it in the flow. I’m really happy for him and not only just his scoring, he really didn’t turn the ball over, he had a great assist night, he had a great rebound night, he did a lot of things for us tonight.”
Maxey did take 33 shots, making 18 of them, but to Rivers’ point, it wasn’t like he was forcing a shot every time down. In this situation, he had no choice, but to fire up shots, but he also made sure guys like Isaiah joe, Dakota Mathias, Paul Reed, and others touched the ball as well.
“I don’t think it was difficult,” said Maxey. “I know I had to hunt my shot just a little bit more because it was needed, but those guys put in a lot of work. Isaiah Joe, Dakota, Paul Reed, and I definitely wanted to get them involved as well. I want them to have this opportunity for all of us. I want them to show what they can do as well. I still want to play within the offense and do everything in my power to help us win the game.”
There is so much to like about this very confident rookie. He can get to the basket, he is a good passer, and he can also shoot the ball as well. He has a lot of potential moving forward and he’s a smart player able to quickly learn from every game.
“I’m telling you, he’s going to be a terrific player,” said Rivers. “He’s going to keep getting better. He’s gonna keep getting smarter by just playing with all these vets and it was actually a good team because it was, there was a clever, I think that would be the word you would use with Denver, they’re a very clever basketball team in the way they play through (Nikola) Jokic and all the cuts. I guarantee you, he learned something from that today, for sure.”
https://embed.sendtonews.com/oembed/?SC=W5hnkSarg0-1102388-7498&autoplay=on&V=2&format=json
[lawrence-related id=41171,41168,41165]