Tyrese Maxey has carried the Sixers. But will it be enough to land another All-Star nod?
Maxey's scoring prowess has kept the Sixers afloat all season. He recently joined Wilt Chamberlain, Allen Iverson, and Joel Embiid as the only Sixers to score 28 points or more in 11 straight games.
![Tyrese Maxey reacts after sinking a three-pointer Tuesday against the Lakers. He led the Sixers with 43 points.](https://www.inquirer.com/resizer/v2/73SNTRTGLJHMNBALME25L3CN6M.jpg?auth=b6bf423a0879d97eb78c641bf62dc7a06063f7eedd2cb55610a0eab16dd33bdd&width=760&height=507&smart=true)
Tyrese Maxey’s scoring prowess is drawing comparisons to some of the 76ers’ all-time greats.
The point guard scored a game-high 43 points Tuesday in a 118-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Wells Fargo Center. He joined Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Allen Iverson and teammate Joel Embiid as the only Sixers to score 28-plus points in 11 consecutive games. Maxey has averaged 31.6 points over this stretch.
“I’m just playing with a free mind,” Maxey said of his scoring streak. “I think early in the year, I was just worried about what’s going on. It was a lot going on, with injuries and all that kind of stuff. It just kind of [stunk].
“But now, I just kind of have the mindset of whoever is out here is out here. We’ve got to go out here and play extremely hard and give ourselves a chance to win. And I know that starts with me, and I’m OK with that. I’m up for the challenge.”
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Following his lead, the undermanned Sixers (18-27) took a three-game winning streak into Wednesday’s home matchup against the Sacramento Kings.
Maxey scored 29 points in Friday’s upset of the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose 37-9 record leads the Eastern Conference. He followed that up with a 31-point, nine-assist effort in Saturday’s victory over the Chicago Bulls. And Maxey outshined four-time NBA MVP LeBron James in Tuesday’s triumph over the Western Conference’s fifth-place Lakers (26-19).
“I’m kind of biased, but he’s got to be an All-Star,” coach Nick Nurse said of Maxey’s chances to be selected Thursday as an All-Star reserve for the second consecutive season. “I mean, with 11 straight games of 28 or more, it’s pretty good, it’s pretty good. If [the coaches] voted already, I say we vote again if he didn’t make it. Hopefully, he makes it.”
Head coaches vote for the All-Star reserves in their respective conferences. They cannot, however, vote for their own players. Maxey is ranked sixth in the NBA in scoring (27.1 points per game) and third in steals (2.0). Those numbers are All-Star worthy.
But will the coaches hold the Sixers’ disappointing season against Maxey when the All-Star reserves are announced at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on TNT? The Sixers were expected to contend for an NBA title, but they are in 11th place in the East, one game out of play-in tournament contention.
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The New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell were voted as the conference’s starting guards. The Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum were voted as the conference’s starting frontcourt.
In picking the All-Star reserves, coaches must vote for two guards, three frontcourt players, and two wild cards — seven players total from each conference. That’s where things could get dicey for Maxey.
He’s up against the Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young, Charlotte Hornets’ LaMelo Ball, Cavaliers’ Darius Garland and the Bucks’ Damian Lillard for the reserve guard and/or wild-card spots.
Cunningham’s play is a major reason for the Pistons’ resurgence while Garland arguably is having a better season than Mitchell for the first-place Cavs. Meanwhile, Young leads the league in assists at 11.4 per game. As an eight-time All-Star, Lillard, who is averaging 25.3 points and 7.3 assists, might be grandfathered in. Ball is on the fence to make the team despite being the top choice to start in the fan voting. He’s also fourth in the league in scoring at 28.2 points per game.
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So the coaches have big decisions to make. But no one can discount what Maxey has accomplished in his last 11 games.
“I honestly think that he’s just comfortable, confident, he understands his role and what he has to do out there,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “We lean on him a lot for the majority of the game. At the end of the day, it’s my job to help him make his job easier.
“I think the more we continue to do that, it eases the pressure off him, we can just all flow and feel good about it and just not necessarily rely on him doing everything. I think we’re coming into our own and together a little bit more to allow him to be freed up there.”