It was an emotional end to a grueling five-game road trip on Thursday for the Philadelphia 76ers. They were 0-4 on the trip and looked to salvage a game when they visited the Utah Jazz.
The Sixers received some good news and some bad news before the game. The good news was Tyrese Maxey received the first of what will likely be many All-Star nods in his career. The bad news was an MRI revealed a meniscus injury for Joel Embiid, which means the reigning league MVP will miss more time.
Maxey then delivered a helluva performance on the road. He had 51 points on 17-for-27 shooting and 7-for-9 from deep in a 127-124 win over the Jazz. The win accomplished what the team set out to do on a night when Philadelphia needed an emotional lift in the wake of the Embiid news.
“When it was my turn, I guess, to say my name, my phone was behind,” Maxey told reporters of his All-Star nod. “So Joel just kept calling me. I kept trying to swipe up and decline his call so I can see what they said and my mom’s calling me, my phone started glitching so I just answered my mom and answered Jo, and they just said congrats. So, it was great.”
The performance came at a perfect time considering how the Sixers have struggled on the trip.
“We needed this emotionally after the big fella and the couple games that we lost on this trip — the four games that we lost on this trip so we needed this dub,” Maxey added. “It was an emotional win for us, and I’m glad we got it.”
Regarding his putting the game on his shoulders, Maxey said he wanted to make sure he was in a position to lead Philadelphia to the win.
“I just wanted to be aggressive, extremely aggressive,” he explained. “I was like, ‘Man, if I’m gonna be out here, I gotta go out all out for my teammates.’ so honestly, we just try get a W. Do whatever it took to get dubs.”
The Sixers also received big contributions from Patrick Beverley, Mo Bamba, Jaden Springer, Tobias Harris, Kelly Oubre Jr. and others down the stretch. Springer’s defense was fantastic. Harris made big shots. Beverley and Bamba made key plays down the stretch, and Oubre was terrific on offense in the fourth.
“Shoutout to a few guys,” Maxey finished. “Pat Bev came in cold turkey, came in hit a 3, grabbed a big rebound. Mo Bamba with huge tonight. He got multiple blocks. He was huge, man. He was great. J-Spring was huge on Jordan Clarkson, Tobias Harris made some big shots, so everybody stepped up.”
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