The Philadelphia 76ers were 1-4 after a bad loss to the Toronto Raptors that started the four-game road trip. They had a rematch with the Raptors on Friday and had to get a win without Joel Embiid, who was out nursing a knee issue.
Without Embiid, the Sixers relied on Tyrese Maxey, who stepped up in a huge way to pour in a career-high 44 points in a 112-90 win.
While Maxey had one incredible night, his focus was and is on getting this team moving in a positive direction after the slow start.
“We know we’re gonna be fine,” Maxey told reporters. “As a collective, we know, but we gotta start winning some games. I think tonight (Friday), it was just we were really locked in on the defensive end and we held them to 90 points and we got rebounds. They crash the glass extremely hard in the way they play. We were small so everybody had to buy in and get boards tonight. It was really good for us on the defensive end.”
Maxey had eight rebounds, so the fact that he was sticking his nose in there was a huge factor. Now, the key is for Maxey and the team to take this effort and carry it forward.
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