The Philadelphia 76ers already had things wrapped up in the Eastern Conference as they had the No. 1 seed in hand heading into the regular-season finale. So, coach Doc Rivers turned to his rookies and let them finish out the season and one rookie, in particular, stood out.
Tyrese Maxey had himself a big game with 30 points, seven rebounds, and six assists while shooting 11-for-19 from the floor in a 128-117 home win over the Orlando Magic. He had 24 points on 10-for-11 shooting at halftime as Orlando could not stay in front of him.
“Tyrese tonight was amazing,” said fellow rookie Paul Reed. “To come in as a rookie and score the ball how he scores it is not normal. That’s like stuff that a No. 1 pick would do in her draft. He’s ballin like he’s a No. 1 pick. He surprised Isaiah with how good he is, he definitely surprised me. He’s a super talented score and a great dude.”
One thing that was different about Maxey on Sunday was he was less reliant on his floater game. He was aggressive in getting to the basket and drawing fouls and he was able to have a very efficient game as he only had one turnover.
“I think it’s clear we got him off that floater,” smiled Rivers. “It’s just night and day and then I think the biggest thing, other than that because that’s what we worked on early on. Like enough with the floater, get to the basket, use your speed. The second thing is you just need to make passes as well and that’s what he’s doing.”
As a rookie, it is tough to make adjustments mid-season and continue to keep working all season long. Maxey has been one of those rare rookies who is going to keep working and it has shown on the floor as of late.
“Early in the year, it was a floater,” Rivers continued. “There was no assists, there were turnovers. Now, he’s attacking the basket, he’s getting to the foul line, he’s finishing at the basket and when they take it away, he’s spraying the ball out and that’s terrific.”
Maxey added that the adjustments were not easy, but in order to succeed in the NBA, those are things that must be done. He was listening to his coach in this one.
“He’s telling me that he feels like I can get to the rim a lot more than what I was doing earlier in the year and I agree with him,” the rookie explained. “I feel like I’ve been working on it, watching film, and figuring out different ways to get all the way to the rack.”
Of course, it does help that he is a very coachable player and he is willing to do whatever it takes to get it done out on the floor.
“The kid listens,” Rivers finished. “He worked his butt off, I said that earlier. Extremely coachable, we watched film 10 minutes before the game today on some of the defensive things that he didn’t do last game and today he came out and did things better. He’s working. He’s good.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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