Tyrese Maxey turned it around and scored 45. Sixers coaches and teammates were with him all the way.
Coaches and teammates told him to keep shooting. And it worked.
INDIANAPOLIS — When Tyrese Maxey struggled Sunday, the 76ers showed how much they love and support him.
That was all the All-Star point guard needed to snap out of a funk in the 118-114 overtime victory against the Indiana Pacers.
Heeding their advice and words of encouragement, Maxey went on to score 38 of his 45 points after intermission. Most of Maxey’s points came in the final 22 minutes, 20 seconds due in large part to the Sixers star missing seven shots to start the third quarter.
» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey scores 45 points to break his slump, propel Sixers past Pacers in overtime
“Come here,” Maxey said to teammate Ricky Council IV before wrapping his arm around him. “This guy right here asked me if I was going to join the party today, and I joined it. He stayed on me. So this is what having teammates is for, man. It’s bigger than basketball.
“It’s like [Council] is one of my brothers now, a good friend of mine. So shout-out to Ricky for that.”
But Council wasn’t the only person in Maxey’s ear.
Teammates and coaches told Maxey to keep shooting after his slow start to the second half. They’ve watched him will this franchise to victory. And while some of those teammates only began building a bond with Maxey in September, they know the talent he possesses from watching or playing against him.
“So they were like, ‘Dude, you know who you are?’” Maxey said. “Reggie Redding, one of our player development coaches, came up to me and said, ‘Listen, you know who you are. Be who you are. Stop overthinking. If you think you are going to make it, shoot it. If you think you are going to make a play, make the play. You always play like the right way.’”
They were words Maxey needed to hear.
While he downplayed it, the fifth-year guard looked like he was placing extra pressure on himself to carry the undermanned Sixers.
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With Joel Embiid and Paul George sidelined, Maxey knew he would take on most of the workload. But he often played out of control, handled physicality poorly, or just flat-out missed open looks in the first two games.
Although he averaged 24.5 points, the 23-year-old shot 29.6% from the field — including 4 of 21 three-pointers — in the two defeats.
Maxey did much of the same in the first half against the Pacers (1-2). He scored seven points on 2-for-7 shooting while committing four turnovers.
“Tyrese is a great player, man,” Andre Drummond said. “In the past two games, they have really been on him, playing physical or trying to get him out of his game, out of his rhythm. And I pulled him to the side and said, ‘Man, don’t worry about it. Keep playing, playing harder, playing stronger. Go through it.’”
Drummond was focused on setting screens to get his teammate easier looks. Meanwhile, Caleb Martin assumed the ballhandling duties to help Maxey place in more space on the wing. Those adjustments helped him get going in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Drummond continued to tell him to play his game.
“‘You’re not going to make every shot, but the shots you’re taking we believe in,’” Drummond said to Maxey. “The shots he was taking the first two games that he missed, he made them today.
“So hats off to him.”