Joel Embiid, Sixers in awe of Tyrese Maxey after saving them vs. Knicks
NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers looked dead in the water against the New York Knicks on Tuesday night. New York’s Miles McBride made a mid-range jumper to put the Knicks up 96-90 with 28.2 seconds left and it felt like that was the dagger.
The obituaries for the 2023-24 season were being written. The Sixers looked defeated and headed toward elimination.
In the blink of an eye, Tyrese Maxey changed that. He converted a ridiculous 4-point play to bring Philadelphia within 96-94 and then drilled a logo triple to tie it and force overtime. The Sixers went on to win 112-106 in overtime and stave off elimination.
“It went in our favor thanks to Tyrese Maxey,” said Joel Embiid who had a triple-double, but nine turnovers. “He was unbelievable. Hitting big shots after big shots. Especially, with everything going on. Tobias (Harris) was amazing throughout the whole game. I think all my teammates. They did their job. Yeah. We got the win.”
Maxey has always been a confident kid. He exuded it on Tuesday. To have the guts to take and make the shots he made down the stretch is impressive and he carried the Sixers to a win and to fight another day.
“I saw confidence,” added Kelly Oubre Jr. “A will to not lose. I saw a big time player make a big time shot and I would expect nothing less.”
HIM. pic.twitter.com/Zs38RDxiEs
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) May 1, 2024
In the moment, Maxey did what he had to do. He made sure he got that shot up quick enough for Philadelphia to make a move and to continue to push forward. Coach Nick Nurse was just happy he did what he was supposed to do in that moment.
“We had to get it up the floor quick and get a 3-ball up, right?” said Nurse. “I’m glad we didn’t try to mess around and try to keep working for something or whatever. We had a little play call that has a counter to it and one of the options is just him pulling up and I know that was a deep one, but he raced it up there and took his chance.”
All season long, Maxey has proven to be a star player. He is going to do what he has to do with the season on the line to make sure Philadelphia is in the best position to win basketball games. He has been doing that all season long. Just Maxey being Maxey.
“Tyrese being Tyrese, man,” smiled Paul Reed. “Great players make great plays. Tonight, he made some great plays down the stretch that really sealed the win for us. He was awesome.”
Game 6 is back in Philadelphia on Thursday.
