Seven days ago, the Sixers had an awful taste in their mouths. The team was preparing to get back to work after falling flat in a nationally-televised blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets in which their effort was not up to par. It was their seventh consecutive loss and felt like the nail in the team's coffin.
Things feel a whole lot better now. The Sixers are now winners of four straight games, with the team finding its best form on both ends of the floor despite still being severely short-handed.
A few role players have stepped up for the Sixers in major ways, but the headliner has been Tyrese Maxey, who has shaken off a rough start to the season under difficult circumstances, found his joy on the floor again and is playing like a full-blown star as he leads the Sixers.
Maxey's run of absolute brilliance dates back beyond just the last four games — Maxey is fourth in the NBA in points per game in the month of January — but he has had his fingerprints all over this winning streak. With per-game averages of 33.3 points, 6.5 assists and 1.5 steals on marvelous efficiency during that stretch, Maxey has not only reestablished his prior form from last year as a dynamite offensive player, but proven that he can pair terrific, high-volume scoring on impressive efficiency with the newfound defensive playmaking he has mastered during his fifth NBA season.
In Tuesday's win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Maxey only collected two assists, but dropped an effortless 43-point performance playing in full attack mode. He has notched at least seven assists in each of the other wins during this streak and combined that playmaking with steady scoring. But on Tuesday, Maxey was as aggressive as he has been in a long time
TYRESE'S TERRIFIC TUESDAY:
🔔 43 PTS | 4 3PM | 57.7 FG% 🔔
Maxey has scored 27+ PTS in 11 straight games and the @sixers win their 3rd straight! pic.twitter.com/mmSxXx5eAn— NBA (@NBA) January 29, 2025
Even during his unusually cold first few months of the season, Maxey was always capable of a strong night as a scorer. He had earned a few games with high assist totals, too. But far too often, it was one or the other. Maxey was not capable of giving his team a consistent scoring punch and leveraging his skills in that department to create shots for his teammates. That was always the next step in his offensive development, and he may be in the midst of finding that perfect balance.
The key adjustment Maxey has made was sparked by veteran advice from the 38-year-old Kyle Lowry, who noticed Maxey's tendency to become dismayed a bit by aggressive defensive coverages thrown at him which were designed to take the ball out of his hands.
"Accept the pressure and accept the way teams are guarding you," Maxey recalled being told by Lowry. "They're putting two on the ball, they're denying, they're doing all those different things. You have to accept that first, and one you accept it, then you're going to be able to start breaking it down."
Moments earlier, in the aftermath of Wednesday night's win over the Sacramento Kings, Nurse echoed a similar sentiment as he discussed Maxey's 30-point, eight-assist night to lead the Sixers too another victory.
"Tyrese made the reads and the right plays," Nurse said. "He was really good at the throw-ahead. It was just right when he was getting blitzed, he was throwing it ahead, and then it was going into the center and it was either a cut or a dunk or wide open corner three, which is kind of our goal. When we get blitzed, we want a dunk or a catch-and-shoot three. And they did it almost every time… Tyrese will sometimes shy away from [calling for a screen] because they're blitzing him, but he just kept calling for it and was just ready to make the next play and get everybody involved. I thought it helped us and gave our other guys really good opportunities."
For the first time in a long while, Lowry was a direct part of the Sixers' on-court success on Wednesday in addition to his strategic leadership. The floor general totaled 13 points on only five shot attempts, along with eight rebounds and five assists. Lowry was finally all over the place again, finding ways to impact winning in all phases of the game. What Maxey enjoyed the most was that Lowry also played the final 17-plus minutes of the game.
"Wow, that's impressive," Maxey said before talking about Lowry's impact. Lowry got in on the fun as well.
"I'll see how I feel tomorrow when I wake up at 12 o'clock," Lowry said with a smile.
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When Nurse has had Lowry available, he has been trying to establish comfort with two-guard lineups in Maxey's absence. He has typically gone to Lowry and Reggie Jackson, looking for the two veteran point guards to work together to restore order during Maxey's brief periods of rest. Those minutes are always crucial, but have been particularly important with both Joel Embiid and Paul George sidelined over the last two games.
The Sixers achieved their most significant run in each half of Wednesday's win with Lowry and Jackson on the court. Lowry was a +27 in 26 minutes against the Kings, while Jackson was a +18 in 17 minutes. It is the product of Nurse's insistence that the pairing had the necessary ball-handling and shot-making chops to help lead a undermanned unit. He has spent weeks trying to make this a combination which can help the Sixers stay afloat for a few minutes at a time, twice a game, and it swung Wednesday night's contest in their favor.
"As Reggie would say, two old guys that are just trying to make sure these young guys are being successful," Lowry said. "Honestly, we just go out there and try to play good team basketball. We understand what we have in Tyrese Maxey and our young stars, and we just go out there and try to make their job and their lives easier."
Another new wrinkle for Nurse, who has always loved stacking as many ball-handlers in one lineup as he can: playing Maxey alongside Jackson and Lowry. It gives the Sixers three reliable ball-handlers, and two extra ones who can attack advantage situations and make proper reads when Maxey gets blitzed. Lowry has the strength to handle larger players on defense, but when Nurse opts to play these three-guard units, he typically gets his team into a zone defense. Naturally, Lowry is typically the one steering that ship.
"I think we play the zone very well," Lowry said. "I think we give a chance for Tyrese to get off the ball. Reggie can still play basketball at a high level. I can set a good screen for Tyrese to give him a little bit of a chance to rest and be able to not think about getting everybody else involved."
Reggie Jackson on playing alongside Kyle Lowry with @sixers:
“We’ve been playing against each other for a long time… It’s an honor to play together now. Trying to orchestrate what’s going on with the young guys, I think we’re in sync.” @Reggie_Jackson pic.twitter.com/fCEXZ4W9J7— Matt Murphy (@Matt_Murphy04) January 30, 2025
Maxey has plenty of experience in three-guard lineups, dating back even farther than just his days of playing alongside.
"I'm going to give a shout out to [John Calipari], because when I was in Kentucky, I played a three-guard lineup with me, Immanuel Quickley and Ashton Hagans," Maxey said. "That was my first time doing that. All three guards get a rebound, all three guards can shoot, all three guards can penetrate the offense and get in the paint and kick, and all three guards can defend. I'm kind of used to that."
Considering the extent to which having two other ball-handlers on the floor can make Maxey's life easier offensively, consider him a fan of the arrangement that Nurse has set up.
"It's a good adjustment that Nurse went to, especially as teams try to blitz and do different things to me," Maxey said with a smile.
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