The Philadelphia 76ers will finally wrap up a long 6-game road trip on Wednesday when they take on the Golden State Warriors in The Bay with a chance to finish the trip at .500 after a slow start. If they can somehow knock off the NBA-best Warriors, one has to consider it a successful trip.
The Sixers have had to battle the entirety of this trip without their superstar big man in the form of Joel Embiid, they have only had Danny Green for one of these games, and Tobias Harris and Seth Curry have also missed time.
Yet, they have somehow come away with two wins on the trip thus far. They were able to overcome reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic to knock off the Denver Nuggets and despite being down four starters, they also knocked off the Sacramento Kings. Those are two impressive wins.
“Resilient and next man up,” said Tyrese Maxey. “I think those are two things I’ll take from this trip and just the season in general. Think about it. How many games have we played at full strength? Maybe two games at full strength? Next man up mentality.”
Maxey has had himself an impressive road trip as he is averaging 22.8 points while shooting 51.8% from the floor and 42.1% from deep on the trip through the first five games. Despite being in only his second season and having to take on more responsibility of leading a team with championship aspirations, he has not backed down.
On top of that, as Maxey mentioned, the Sixers have been ravaged by COVID as well as a variety of injuries that have been tough to go through. The Sixers as a team have been able to band together and battle through a lot of adversity.
“I think we’ve just kind of shown it consistently just because of COVID or injuries throughout this whole year,” added Shake Milton. “Everything we’ve kind of been through. It’s always kind of been a next man up mentality and I think it showed tonight. We’re in these situations so often, it’s good to see us respond the way we do.”
The Sixers have found some success because players who don’t normally play a lot have stepped up. Isaiah Joe, for example, had 11 points in Monday’s win over the Kings and that was a big factor in being able to come away with a win.
“I was proud of Isaiah Joe,” Maxey added. “He came in and hit big shots. I know one time I threw it to him coming baseline and I ran back before he even shot it because that’s how confident I am in his shot. Just for him to stay persistent, in the lineup, and then still come in and make big shots play great defense. Hats off to him.”
Philadelphia will now be looking to finish off the road trip strong on Wednesday and go into the Thanksgiving holiday with a win.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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