Tyrese Maxey scored 39 factors in a 110-108 comeback win for the Sixers over the Clippers, shaking off a sluggish begin to outlast James Harden in Philadelphia. Quentin Grimes and VJ Edgecombe chipped in with secondary scoring alongside Maxey, although errors by the younger backcourt stored the Clippers alive in crunch time.
Right here’s what I noticed.
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Tyrese Maxey, chipping away
When Maxey is capturing the quilt off the ball, the Sixers have had a viable, even elite offense this season. However when he’s only a fairly good guard, producing moments of flashy offense in between misses on threes and floaters, they don’t have an entire lot going for them. The offense is easy sufficient that they aren’t going to easily manufacture factors out of off-ball motion, and with Kelly Oubre on the shelf, they’re additionally down a purposeful off-ball cutter who can prey on defenses which can be caught ball-watching.
At halftime, Maxey had 12 factors on 12 photographs, bothered as soon as once more by a switch-heavy protection and pesky (learn: generally unlawful) contributions from Kris Dunn and the sensible elder statesman Chris Paul. He struggled to hit threes in opposition to the Clippers, even on open catch-and-shoot makes an attempt, and he struggled to bail himself out along with his runner/floater bundle. However Maxey’s case isn’t being helped by lineups that at the moment embody a number of non-shooters on the ground at a time, with due respect to the contributions Drummond and Barlow are making in any other case. Philadelphia has combined in numerous ballscreen actions this season, together with double-drag seems to be and Spain pick-and-roll, however they struggled to constantly generate clear seems to be for him within the first 2.5 quarters or so of this recreation.
In opposition to the run of play, Maxey began clawing himself out of the outlet after halftime, principally by sparking the Sixers in transition. As Philadelphia lastly began getting stops, he put repeated strain on the Clippers in early offense, drawing a handful of fouls to place the Sixers within the bonus for eight minutes of the third quarter. He was fairly wonderful as a scorer in transition, whittling away at L.A.’s lead by attacking earlier than they may get set, and the momentum slowly began constructing, one free throw at a time.
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Because the third quarter became the fourth, the Clippers’ dam broke. Lastly preying on their drained legs, Maxey’s velocity hit one other gear within the closing quarter, as No. 0 went into operating again mode, slicing by gaps with dangerous intentions earlier than tossing in some actually absurd buckets across the rim. Xfinity Cell Area was borderline lifeless for at the least the primary 2.5 quarters of this recreation, the house crowd understandably unimpressed by the begin to this one, however Maxey’s particular person barrage sucked them again into it in crunch time.
A part of being a team-leading star is strictly what we noticed from Maxey on Monday night time — stumped by a veteran-laden group early, he discovered a distinct approach to assault them, searching for a rhythm by journeys to the charity stripe the best way his mentor (and Monday’s opponent) James Harden confirmed him. And as he discovered the boldness and his capturing boots, Maxey finally put the guests away with a fourth quarter flurry, even when he flubbed an vital press scenario on the finish.
Two-way excellence for Quentin Grimes
In his position as their bench offense captain, we haven’t spent a lot time desirous about what Grimes can do on the defensive finish. He has lengthy held a fame as a “three-and-D” participant and is likely one of the few guys with that label who truly brings each, however Grimes has skewed way more closely towards offense throughout his transient stint in Philadelphia.
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On Monday night time, the Sixers wanted an answer to decelerate James Harden. Harden had 17 first-quarter factors in opposition to the Sixers, completely ripping them to shreds in isolation and excessive pick-and-roll units. For a spell within the first half, the Sixers turned to box-and-one protection, which was efficient sufficient till the Clippers started to get rolling from past the arc, making it arduous to shade protection away from the non-Harden Clips. So it was as much as somebody to attempt to supply resistance on the level of assault, and Grimes finally drew the highest project.
I assumed he did a hell of a job making Harden work when the 2 shared the ground within the ultimate 2.5 quarters or so. Harden is a grasp of grift ball with stepback vary out to 30 ft, and Grimes did an impressive job to play Harden tight with out reaching in, resulting in some downright heinous makes an attempt from the long run Corridor of Famer within the second half. There was no method again into this recreation with out a Harden slowdown, so Grimes deserves large credit score for giving them an opportunity on that finish.
This was additionally a superb decisionmaking night time for Grimes offensively, along with his photographs and touches pretty restricted for the primary three quarters however his influence nonetheless there to be felt. Nick Nurse inserted him into the beginning lineup for the second half rather than Dominick Barlow, and the three-guard look that has outlined their season to this point felt like the correct approach to go even earlier than it began displaying up on the scoreboard. Grimes was a part of one among their finest sequences of the night time early within the fourth, taking a hit-ahead cross from VJ Edgecombe in transition and shortly firing it to Andre Drummond for a breakaway dunk.
Once they wanted him within the fourth quarter, Grimes provided a few of his finest work all night time, blocking Harden on a midrange jumper, hitting an enormous pull-up three, and scoring out of a well-designed ATO from Nick Nurse. Perhaps not his finest Sixers recreation, however I might argue his most consequential.
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Paul George returns, at the least bodily
Paul George regarded effectively on his approach to a glowing debut within the opening minutes of this recreation. He canned his first shot of the night time, a catch-and-shoot three in transition, after which drew three free throws on a reach-in foul shortly afterward.
May or not it’s? Was this the man they had been hoping for when Daryl Morey threw a four-year max at him final summer time? Effectively, no. George would hit only one extra shot within the first half, a drag-step layup deep within the paint, in any other case vaccuming up touches with nothing to point out for it.
I can’t blame George individually for this, however making an attempt to get him going led to a gradual, predictable Sixers offense. Opposite to public consensus, the Sixers haven’t performed at a breakneck tempo this season, and in reality, they entered the night time twenty fourth in tempo regardless of the absence of the so-called “gradual vets” in Embiid and George. However George’s return solely appeared to make them even slower than traditional, utilizing lots of the vanilla, side-to-side offense that was on the heart of final season’s trainwreck.
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If George actually has been enjoying five-on-five with these guys for the final month in apply, I certain hope they’ve regarded higher than this behind closed doorways. Even when we concede that George’s return required a return to fundamentals on some degree, this was a reasonably disgraceful efficiency in opposition to a group on their third recreation in 4 nights and enjoying the second half of a highway back-to-back.
Different notes
— One other recreation, one other huge shot from VJ Edgecombe in crunch time. After a foolish reach-in foul on James Harden that regarded prefer it may very well be a possible pivot level of the sport, Edgecombe made up for it with a monster three on a damaged play.
The crunch-time free throws are one other story. After a missed pair in Boston within the opener, Edgecombe missed two freebies in an enormous spot once more on Monday.
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— I ponder what the two-minute report will say concerning the ultimate replay evaluation of this recreation. Kris Dunn actually made contact with Maxey, which matches in opposition to what they introduced on the recreation, however whether or not it was sufficient to warrant a foul name is (I suppose) open to interpretation.
— Andre Drummond’s recreation was about as ugly because it will get, however he was an absolute handful on the glass at both finish, which is all you possibly can hope for. He put in a shift.
— Jared McCain seems to be like he has no place on this rotation proper now. His first-half minutes got here alongside Edgecombe, Grimes, and a model of George making an attempt to work his method again into rhythm, so alternatives weren’t going to be plentiful, nevertheless it seems to be robust for him proper now.
Is extra time within the G-League going to perform something for McCain? I’m undecided, however I wouldn’t be against repeated Delaware journeys till he at the least builds a conditioning base for a full recreation. Nurse is relegating him to mop-up responsibility on the finish of second quarters, so he’s not going to construct his legs and lungs up that method.
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— Barlow’s shoe got here off two totally different instances within the first half. Lace these dangerous boys up a little bit tighter, my buddy.
— Maxey has been good at most issues however fairly horrific making an attempt to navigate two-for-one conditions this season. It looks as if it needs to be a lot simpler than he/they’re making it look in these spots. Search for a good early shot, and if it’s not there, you go into bleeding the clock mode. The Sixers in some way maintain undertaking the worst of all worlds, taking dangerous photographs whereas additionally not gaining shot and clock benefit.
