Sixers takeaways: Tyrese Maxey is clutch, Jared McCain ends cold spell, and more

Tyrese Maxey showed why he’s clutch. Kelly Oubre Jr. had another solid start, and rookie Jared McCain snapped out of his shooting slump. Those three things stood out in the 76ers’ 110-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets in Tuesday’s NBA Cup East Group finale at the Spectrum Center.

Mr. Clutch

Maxey didn’t have a great shooting night for three quarters. But the All-Star point guard was instead trying to get power forward K.J. Martin and his other teammates involved while being a floor general. But all that changed in the fourth.

Maxey scored the Sixers' final 11 points to clinch the victory. He finished the night with 21 points on 5-for-16 shooting, including 1-of-7 three-pointers, to go along with seven assists, three rebounds, two steals, one block, and a turnover. Maxey did make 10 of his 11 foul shots.

Oubre the starter

Oubre got things going for the Sixers for the second consecutive game. The shooting guard scored nine of his 14 points in the first quarter on Tuesday. He did that by making all three of his three-point attempts and grabbing a steal.

Oubre also altered Charlotte 7-foot center Nick Richards’ shot underneath the basket in the first. This comes after he scored eight of his 14 points in the first quarter during Saturday’s victory over the Detroit Pistons.

McCain is back

McCain shot 29.3%, including making 9.5% of his three-pointers in his three previous games. However, the Eastern Conference rookie of the month made 3-of-4 three-pointers and 7-of-10 shots, scoring 17 points in a reserve role.

McCain was back to being his explosive self while getting to the right spots on the floor. “I’m just going to keep shooting,” McCain said of breaking out of his slump. “I work too hard to not keep shooting. So it was just another game coming in with the same confidence every single game, and shots went in today.”