NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers should be heading into the offseason. They trailed the New York Knicks 96-90 with 28.2 seconds left on the road in Madison Square Garden against a team that has had their number all season.
That should have been it. The Sixers should not be preparing for another basketball game on Thursday. If it wasn’t for Tyrese Maxey, they wouldn’t be.
Maxey saved the Sixers. He threw them on his back by converting a 4-point play and then a logo 3 to tie the game at 97 and force overtime. Philadelphia eventually walked away with the 112-106 win thanks to Maxey’s playoff career-high 46 points.
“That’s just a lot of reps,” Maxey said after the win. “Going right, throwing the ball out, chasing it. Rico’s (Hines) been on me all year about shooting deep ones. I’ve been working on it all year, so it paid off.”
The Sixers needed this from Maxey. It was mandatory. He struggled in the fourth quarter of the Game 4 loss to the Knicks at home. He needed to step up and make plays with the season on the line. He remembered that heading into this one.
“I just remember the last fourth quarter, I wasn’t in rhythm,” Maxey recalled. “I didn’t play well I wasn’t aggressive. I refused to let that happen this time. I came out aggressive as soon as the fourth quarter started, as soon as we got the ball, I was being aggressive, and being aggressive doesn’t mean shooting every single time. It’s just making the plays — making the play every single time you have the ball, being aggressive, being a threat to score.”
Oh, he was certainly a threat to score. This is what Maxey has been doing all season. He has stepped up in big moments to ensure the Sixers walk away with wins when they probably should have been losses.
Game 5 wasn’t perfect. He needed a pick-me-up from Buddy Hield, who has been out of the rotation since Game 3. After Maxey missed two free throws in the fourth, Hield had a message for him.
“I missed those three free throws, man,” Maxey added. “I’m going to give a quick shoutout to Buddy Hield because I was on the bench and I was really upset with myself. I’d missed three free throws, turned the ball over, and Buddy Hield just grabbed me and said, ‘Listen, dude, you know what you can do. Go out there and make up for it.’ I really do appreciate Buddy for that, man. I know it’s going to go unnoticed, but it was big time of him.”
There was a great deal of emotion at the end of regulation. Maxey hit the 3 and then Philadelphia produced a stop to get to overtime. The star guard let out a yell and waved his arms in the air going back down the court.
“I was saying some things that my grandma probably wouldn’t like, honestly,” Maxey laughed. “Listen, that’s a lot of emotion. I’m a happy guy, but I really hate losing. I missed three free throws — crucial free throws — and then I turned the ball over late. People don’t see me upset a lot, but I was really upset. I just wanted to go out there and make up for it for my teammates, man.”
Maxey saved the season. Now, he’s got to do it again in Game 6.
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