Nick Nurse previously stated that the Philadelphia 76ers are looking to “pick off” victories as they attempt to find a way to win without Joel Embiid. There are benefits to doing this besides the evident necessity of continuing to pursue a postseason bid. Promoted to the first choice in the ultimate next-man-up scenario, Tyrese Maxey wants to see the squad that does not have Joel Embiid develop into a self-assured group that understands how to win games.
The Sixers had one of their best Embiid-less games of the year in their most recent contest. They took a commanding lead over the Miami Heat and managed to hang on for the victory. Maxey had a brilliant, dominating game, scoring 30 points, dishing out 10 assists and pulling down eight rebounds. Although Philly has placed a lot of reliance on the rookie All-Star, it cannot win by relying just on his requests.
“Going into the NBA season, you don’t plan to not have somebody, especially an MVP like Jo,” Maxey said. “Once you get into that situation, you have to kind of reconstruct things and reconstruct minutes, rotations — and all that takes time, because I was used to playing a little bit in the first and then the whole second. So now it’s reversed, now I play the whole first. Guys just have to be adaptable.”
Embiid’s absence forced everyone on the 76ers to readjust their games. Easy opportunities on offense are gone. Defensive mistakes are more exposed. Maxey said that staying competitive and working to find what works best for this group is “good for us” and gave shoutouts to KJ Martin, Mo Bamba, Paul Reed and Nico Batum for their efforts against the Heat.
“I went through some things and I think when he first went out it was hard for me to adjust to the traps and the double teams and stuff like that. I wasn’t used to that,” Maxey said. “And then I realize now when I can attack, when I should attack, when I can get to the paint and pass, how to kind of manipulate the defense and when they come trap and I can swing it and get guys open shots. That’s what I think I’ve gotten better at.”
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