Tyrese Maxey not surprised by star turn or 50-point performance: ‘This is what I worked for’

Tyrese Maxey constantly works on becoming a better basketball player.

From the moment he became a 76er, the point guard said his goal was to get 1% better every day.

Now, with Maxey emerging as one of the league’s young stars, it’s hard to not recognize the benefits of his work ethic. Maxey scored a career-high 50 points in Sunday’s 137-126 victory over the Indiana Pacers at the Wells Fargo Center while making seven of his 11 three-point shots.

He’s ninth in the league in scoring (28.6 points per game), second in minutes (37.9), sixth in efficiency (31.7), and 10th in assists (7.2) through nine games.

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Does he ever surprise himself on the court? Or does Maxey look at his success as something he has worked toward?

“This is what I worked for, honestly,” Maxey said. “It’s funny. They sent me a video of my mom, my dad … they were watching the game together. It’s my twin nieces’ birthday tomorrow. So they were watching the game together.”

In the video, everyone was smiling — except Maxey’s father, Tyrone.

“It doesn’t matter what the situation is, he never smiles because he expects it,” Maxey said. “And I expect it of myself now.

“Anything I do out there on the court, I work extremely hard on it. Like you said, I try to be one percent better at my craft every single day, every single summer. And I work extremely hard to be the best [version] of myself. When it comes to light, it’s a good feeling, but it’s kind of expected.”

Maxey’s previous NBA career high was 44 points last season against Nick Nurse’s Toronto Raptors. Before Sunday, the most points he had scored at any level was 46, and that was for South Garland High School near Dallas.

The Maxey-Joel Embiid two-man game was unstoppable against the Pacers (6-4), as Embiid added 37 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists.

But Pacers center Myles Turner wouldn’t describe the duo as invincible.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, they are good players,” Turner said. “But at the same time, we play good players every night. You’ve got to be able to make your adjustments on the fly and I think we waited too long to assert ourselves and get going.”

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Indiana will get another opportunity to do that on Tuesday against the Sixers (8-1) back at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m., NBCSP).

This matchup will also be an NBA In-Season Tournament game. The Pacers’ No. 1 priority is neutralizing the Sixers’ high-scoring duo.

“When you’re dealing with a dynamic guard like Tyrese Maxey, and obviously, the MVP-caliber player in Joel, the small stuff is what hurts you,” said guard T.J. McConnell, a former Sixer. “You got to limit them to one shot, and the extra shots that they got on rebounding [Sixers finished with 23 offensive rebounds and had 30 second-chance points] and the 50/50 balls in the first half.

“That stuff adds up when you’re playing against a team like that. So we’ll clean that up and be ready for Tuesday.”

Nicolas Batum didn’t know what to expect on Nov. 1 when he was traded to the Sixers as part of the package that sent James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers. The forward was actually caught off guard.

Batum, 34, was pretty sure he would end his career with the Clippers. He was cool with his role as a glue guy playing alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

But now, he’s playing a major role in Philly on the NBA’s No. 1 team.

“That’s cool, though,” Batum said. “I’m a basketball player first. I’m a basketball player. We are winning games, great coaching staff, great energy. It’s fun. In the end, that’s what you want when you play ball. You want to win games and have fun with your guys. And it’s pretty cool for me, I’ve got to be honest.”