CAMDEN, N.J. — If the Philadelphia 76ers are going to do anything in the playoffs, they need Tyrese Maxey to be the third scorer next to Joel Embiid and James Harden.
As he prepares for his third playoffs, Maxey must take some lessons he’s learned in the past. His playoff performances have been uneven, which is understandable, and he is hoping to be more consistent this time.
“I think I learned two things,” Maxey started. “I first thing I learned was every game is different. That’s what I learned my rookie year. Every game is different, every game brings different challenges, coaches make adjustments both ways every single game, and that was my first time going through that my rookie year where I played — I remember Game 5 in a closeout game, I played like 30 minutes off the bench. It’s just what coach Doc (Rivers) thought was rolling and that’s what we did.”
In that Game 5 against the Washington Wizards in 2021, Maxey played 26:28 and had 13 points on 6-for-14 shooting. Overall, the young guard out of Kentucky has been able to have success in the playoffs, but there have been games he has struggled due to adjustments teams make over the course of a playoff game and a playoff series.
“The second thing I learned was it’s single possession games,” Maxey added. “Every single possession matters. There is a game within each possession and you learn your opponents, what they’re doing. You’re learning their habits, you’re learning their capabilities, and you just have to be aware of them. You have to go to execute from there.”
Maxey and the Sixers begin another playoff run on Saturday when they host the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1 of their first-round series.
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