Never Doubt Tyrese Maxey

The good vibes might be back.

Tyrese Maxey had never looked worse in a Sixers’ uniform. Through two-and-a-half quarters against the Indiana Pacers, he was shooting a ghastly 2-for-13 from the field, holding back a Sixers’ team that otherwise seemed game to compete. His three-point shooting was so awful, he was down to 5-for-29 from deep for the season. Following two clankers against the Bucks and the Raptors, Maxey looked more like 2015 Michael Carter-Williams than he did 2001 Allen Iverson. 

It would have been one thing if Maxey was only missing shots. Rather, every part of his game had dipped. He was a mess defensively, gambling off-ball for no reason, trying to get surprise steals on Pascal Siakam, only to twice give up wide open shots to Indiana. 

All the misses had Maxey shook on the offensive end as well. He was opting out of open pull-ups when the Pacers gave him space, and his passes were suddenly sailing out of bounds at random. It was a full-on disaster. 

For as much hate as Joel Embiid and the Sixers have received over the years, Maxey is almost always separate from it. He has one of the highest approval ratings of any player in the NBA. Everybody loves him, everybody thinks he’s great. The first two-and-a-half games were probably the first time the thought creeped into your head … is Maxey not as good as we all thought? Obviously, it would have been an overreaction. A three-game sample size in which the title of second-best Sixers’ player has oscillated amongst Kyle Lowry, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Caleb Martin is not fair grounds for judgment on Maxey. 

Still, it was the most concerning play we’d seen from him in years. For all the things that could derail this Sixers’ season, be it a lack of health, a dearth of reliable forwards, or just the general curse that’s been placed on the franchise over the past decade, the one thing that no one expected was a Maxey regression. After four years of steady growth, it just didn’t seem possible.

So naturally, Maxey assuaged everyone’s fears and then some over the final 22 minutes of play. He scored 33 points on his next 19 shots, torching the Pacers to the point that he was automatically doubled on almost every play. Even then, he couldn’t be stopped. His 45-point outburst is the most any player in the NBA has scored in a single game so far this season. 

Things finally got rolling for Maxey with this play call — “Fake Flip.” It’s the natural offshoot of the “Flip” action that Nick Nurse has had the team run so much over the past two seasons. Instead of pitching the ball back like normal on the DHO, Maxey keeps the ball and gets downhill for the lefty floater after euro stepping around T.J. McConnell. 

Just look at the raw emotion he lets out after the play. In the moment, you could tell how badly Maxey needed to see that shot go in. 

Nurse went back to “Fake Flip” well twice more during the game, identifying it as a good way to get Maxey one-on-one opportunities. The Sixers kept good spacing on each and every rep, and Maxey did the rest from there.

That first “Fake Flip” bucket for Maxey also tapped into something we haven’t really seen before — improved confidence in his ability as a left-handed finisher. For all his great qualities, most Sixers fans would agree that Maxey is an extremely right-hand oriented player. He’s almost always trying to get back to his dominant hand and drive to the right, and if you ever listen to an opposing team’s broadcast, the color commentator is most assuredly begging the defense to force Maxey left.

But last night, that didn’t work. Maxey finished with his left hand over and over again in the paint and at the rim, including two of the most difficult buckets I’ve ever seen him make. 

That first play is a classic Spain pick and roll, with Maxey slipping the back screen he’d normally set for Guerschon Yabusele to instead receive the ball immediately. Maxey catches McConnell overpursuing on the closeout, and immediately puts him in jail behind him, before deftly lobbing the ball over Isaiah Jackson’s outstretched arm with his left hand. 

On the second play, the Pacers are in full desperation mode, sending late doubles and traps in hopes of making Maxey pass the ball. However, he catches Siakam slacking on his angle for just one moment, and in vintage Maxey fashion, he hits the accelerator, turns the corner on the Pacers’ star, and gets the ball off before Myles Turner can rotate in time. He didn’t even touch the ball with his right for the last four dribbles of the play. 

Three Great Things and Three Awful Things From the Sixers’ Opening Night Loss

All these short mid-range floaters are evident of the adjustment Maxey made in that third quarter last night. Everyone knows he’s been frustrated at the lack of calls he’s been getting. No matter how violent the collision at the rim, it seems like Maxey doesn’t get the whistle. 

It led to him forcing more and more contested shots at the basket, driving into bodies repeatedly with the hope of forcing the official’s hand. Instead, all that resulted was Maxey shooting a horrid 5-for-18 at the rim through the first two games of the season, per Synergy. He was over driving, trying to get too deep into the paint just to force a shot up, no matter the difficulty. 

Though it wasn’t the style of floater Maxey was known for when he first entered the league, he showed a trust in that same type of shot during the second half of last night’s game. Instead of trying to get all the way to the front of the rim to challenge a 7-footer like Turner, Maxey trusted in his shooting touch. He was willing to release the ball a few feet earlier, keeping distance between himself and any potential shot blockers, and the result was a much better performance on shots in the paint. 

Of course, the biggest “adjustment” Maxey made in the second half was the rediscovery of his three-point shooting stroke. He closed the final 22 minutes of action by making four of his next nine triples, looking much more like the career 39% shooter from deep that he’s always been. There was no discernible change. No adjustment in his form or method that sparked the uptick. Maxey simply kept shooting threes, and suddenly they started falling. 

The only difference was in his attitude. He wasn’t hesitating anymore, he fully believed each three he took was going in despite his shot being ice cold up to that point. 

It would have been easy for anyone to lose confidence having been put in Maxey’s situation. Two and a half games into the season, and you’re playing some of the worst basketball of your career despite entering the season with sky-high expectations. Everyone is counting on you to carry the team with Embiid and Paul George sidelined, and instead an 0-3 record is on the horizon while you’re shooting 17% from three. All signs are pointing to the fact that you don’t have it. 

But Maxey never lost confidence. Even if he wavered just a tad through that dismal first half, his self-belief never fully left. He just needed to see one go down. From then on, he played with conviction, knowing that the shots would go in if he just kept shooting. Stuck at 1-for-8 three-point shooting midway through the third quarter, other players might’ve grown hesitant to pull the trigger from deep. Rather than do that, Maxey finished the game with 17 total three-point attempts — again, the most from any NBA player this season, and the most that Maxey has ever attempted in a game. People know Maxey as the always-smiling young guy who brightens everyone’s mood, but for the last 22 minutes of that game, he was a snarling pit bull who kept demanding the ball because he knew he was gonna bring the Sixers home. 

So go ahead, worry about other things. There’s still an infinite number of reasons to doubt the Sixers. The 1-2 record still isn't great. Caleb Martin almost threw away the overtime victory with one of the more inexplicable fouls ever seen. Concerns about the team’s overall health aren’t going away anytime soon. 

But no matter how it looks, no matter how bad things get, you should never doubt Tyrese Maxey. 

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Daniel Olinger is a writer for the Rights To Ricky Sanchez, and author of “The Danny” column, even though he refuses to be called that in person. He can be followed on X @dan_olinger.

“The Danny” is brought to you by the Official Realtor Of The Process, Adam Ksebe.