While the New York Knicks star was being held on the perimeter, Deuce McBride jumped into the middle of the lane and caught a pass from Jalen Brunson. McBride calmly stepped up to the free-throw line jumper and swung it away, giving the Knicks a six-point lead over the Philadelphia 76ers with 29 seconds left. Losing 3–1 in the series, Philadelphia needed a miracle in the final seconds of Game 5 to avoid elimination.
Somehow, Tyrese Maxey made it happen.
Maxey drove to his left and pump faked, putting New York's Mitchell Robinson in the air as he leaned in for a 3-pointer. Cash, and he has one. After a four-point play, the Sixers fouled Josh Hart, who split two free throws. Philadelphia had another chance. Maxey rushed the ball, took a screen from Joel Embiid at center court, and hit a 3 from the “E” of the New York logo in the center of the floor at Madison Square Garden. The rest is history.
The Sixers defeated the Knicks 112-106 in overtime to preserve their season and force a Game 6 in Philadelphia on Thursday. The box score rates Maxey's shot as 34 feet, an absolute moonshot in the most clutch of moments, but that hardly captures its significance. Regardless of whether Philadelphia can go on to win the series, Maxey saved the Sixers from their worst playoff loss of this era. That would have inevitably involved some very difficult conversations surrounding superstar center Joel Embiid.
Maxey finished with 46 points and nine assists on 17-of-30 shooting from the field and 7-of-12 from 3-point range. Embiid scored 19 points on 19 field goal attempts and committed nine turnovers. After losing, Philadelphia spent the offseason talking about how Embiid always suffocates in repechage games, how the rest of the roster isn't good enough, and how this franchise always seems cursed. ing. With one stroke, all is forgiven.
How Tyrese Maxey saved the Sixers
Maxey's clutch shot wasn't the first time he saved the Sixers. His presence may be the only thing holding Embiid's era together at this point. This Sixers season started with James Harden calling Philadelphia executive Daryl Morey a liar and saying he would never play for him again. Harden's trade request was ultimately passed after ownership interference on both sides, sending him to the Los Angeles Clippers for a role player and future asset.
Maxie was cast in the lead role at the age of 23. The Sixers knew they had one of the best players in the league in Embiid, but they needed a matching co-star. Maxey became just that player, growing into an All-Star and the NBA's most improved player, his hopes and prayers continuing to light the Sixers.
With his incredible speed, relentless dedication to attacking in the paint, and always with a big smile on his face, Maxey is a godsend for Philadelphia. His being taken with the 21st overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft feels like a miracle in itself, but Maxey's development isn't all that surprising. Looking back on his stellar high school career at Texas State and his time starring as John Calipari for one season at the University of Kentucky, he always felt like an unsung star.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but with Maxey there was no hindsight. Despite shooting just 42.7 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from three in college, it was easy to see that Maxey had the talent to one day become a great NBA guard. Here's what we wrote in our instant draft grade when the Sixers took Maxey with the 21st overall pick:
21. Philadelphia 76ers – Tyrese Maxey, G, Kentucky
School year:A
This feels like the most valuable pick in the first round. Maxey is a perfect fit for Philadelphia as an aggressive guard who shines in attacking the rim and a physical point-of-attack defense role with his 6-foot-6 wingspan. He didn't shoot the ball as well as expected in college, but he is a great free throw shooter and should improve from 3-point shooting in time. For now, Maxey's touch on floaters and his ability to twist his body for tough finishes at the rim will be a great addition next to Ben Simmons' big-four playmaking. Maxey deserved to be a lottery pick, but he found a great home with the Sixers. Daryl Morey knows what he's doing.
Of course, those draft grades now look mixed. They were right that James Wiseman and Jalen Smith were terrible in the top 10. I was deeply and disturbingly wrong in giving the Pistons an “A” grade for Killian Hayes. I was completely convinced that LaMelo Ball was the best player in this class, but that certainly doesn't look good at this point with Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and Maxey rising to stardom. is. But don't give up on Ball's future just yet.
Kentucky never got the most out of Maxey
Nothing is certain in the draft, but Maxey always felt he was better in the NBA than in college. His team situation at Kentucky was never in his favor. The Wildcats didn't shoot at all in the 2019-2020 season, shooting just 26.6 percent from 3-point range and ranking 350th in the DI rankings. Kentucky's spacing was so bad that Maxey would often hit the wall near the paint instead of using his incredible speed to burn defenders off the dribble.
Calipari started two big men who couldn't shoot, and solidified guard Ashton Hagans, who couldn't shoot, as the team's leader. Maxey and Immanuel Quickley were a dynamic duo in the backcourt, but they weren't put in the best position to succeed as Calipari built his lineup primarily around offensive rebounding and paint protection.
It was always easy to tell that Maxey had real touch as a shooter, even if his success rate was poor. He shot 83.3 percent from the free throw line. He was hitting difficult mid-range floaters like it was nothing.
This shot didn't translate right away in the NBA, but once he took a big leap forward with his shot, there was no doubt about it again. Maxey shot 30.1 percent from three as a rookie, 42.7 percent from three in his second year and 43.4 percent from three in his third year. This season, after the Harden trade, Maxey took on more than eight shot attempts from deep per game, averaging 37.3, as he took on a larger role with more difficult shot attempts. This is an astonishing number for that amount.
There are players who come out of nowhere in the draft and become truly shocking NBA stars. Let's take Nikola Jokic (41st in 2014) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (15th in 2013) as prime examples, two of the best players in the NBA right now. Maxey is the opposite. He entered the draft cycle No. 7 on our board and was projected to be a top-10 pick after the lottery. Others thought much more highly of him. He's a classic case of the NBA overthinking a very promising player and leaving it to a smart GM like Morey.
Just getting the Sixers with the 21st overall pick was a miracle. The Oklahoma City Thunder owed Philadelphia a first-round draft pick that year, but their top 20 selection was protected. OKC came close to paying off that pick thanks to Chris Paul's inspired play. On the final day of the season, Mike Muscala hit back-to-back threes in the final seconds, giving the Thunder an improbable victory over the Heat. The win gave the Sixers the No. 21 pick, and he is now a local legend in the Philadelphia area.
Regardless of how the rest of the series against the Knicks goes, Sixers fans can take solace in knowing they have one of the NBA's best young guards in Maxey. This was just the beginning of an illustrious career filled with great moments in the playoffs. His deep three against the Knicks could be the start of a highlight reel.
