Philadelphia 76ers: Need energy? Run the offense through Tyrese Maxey

The vibes were off, the energy was low, and after managing a points differential of -2 over the first four games of their second-round series versus the Miami Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers got blown out in Game 5 120-85.

Some blamed Joel Embiid for “pouting” over his lost MVP award, some trashed James Harden for losing his touch just as quickly as he re-found it, and others still put the blame on Doc Rivers for failing to counter Erik Spoelstra’s game plan.

And yet, what are the Sixers to do? Embiid’s finger/face/recent concussion symptoms aren’t going to magically heal themselves on a plane trip from South Beach to South Philly, and unless the team goes full-on mutiny and fires Rivers ahead of Game 7 in favor of a Sam Cassell-designed, Harden-focused pick-and-roll, there really isn’t an answer to what ails the team.

No, if the Philadelphia 76ers are going to pull out a W in what feels like their final stand of the 2021-22 NBA season, they’ll need to maximize the parts they already have in place and, hopefully, run their offense through Tyrese Maxey.

The Philadelphia 76ers need to run their early offense through Tyrese Maxey.

Tyrese Maxey is the easiest bucket on the Philadelphia 76ers. While that may sound like a bold statement, as the team does employ two players with scoring titles, neither Joel Embiid nor James Harden can put points on the board as quickly as Maxey or in as many creative ways.

In the fastbreak, Maxey is a force. There isn’t a player on the Miami Heat – or the Sixers, for that matter – who can run him down in the open court, and his ability to get up for a dunk all but eliminates the possibility of a Paul Reed whiff around the rim.

Maxey is also an exceptional 3 point shooter both by volume and by efficiency. He finished out the regular season with the third-best shooting percentage from deep on a blistering 42.7 percent on 4.1 attempts per game, and even in the postseason, Maxey is draining 40.6 percent of his 5.6 attempts per game, which leads all members of the starting rotation.

But where Maxey really shines above all else – which is really saying something – is his ability to attack the hoop off the dribble, as the Kentucky product has one of the most varied layup packages you’ll ever see, with his signature floater and a spinning J thrown in for good measure. Unless Kyle Lowry magically heals up in a hurry or the Heat opt to put their best defender, Jimmy Butler, on Maxey instead of James Harden – which creates a ton of other options – Miami just doesn’t have a clear answer for “Tyweese’s” speed.

That, my friends, is how Maxey should be deployed and how Doc Rivers should attack the Heat right out of the gates in Game 6.

For how effective Embiid has been on the defensive end of the court – I mean, he is FiveThirtyEight’s third-rated defensive player of the postseason for a reason – his offense has been stifled both by his injuries and how the Heat swarm him whenever he touches the ball. While “The Process” has largely been able to overcome this disadvantage, his offensive numbers are still down from his usual efforts and have been increasingly so since Game 3 in Toronto. Harden, too, has remained more of a facilitator than a scorer, and while his assists, points, and rebounds are much appreciated, his lack of scoring, especially in the first quarter, has made things hard on the players around him.

Maxey, by contrast, is very much a scorer’s scorer who sometimes gets labeled a “streaky sparkplug” for his inconsistency from quarter to quarter, but that has more to do with the inconsistency of his usage than his inefficiency. If the Sixers make a concerted effort to get Maxey involved early on both in the game and in the shot clock, it may ultimately not work, but then the Sixers can turn elsewhere for scoring instead of having to call on single 0 for a spark after a quarter plus of being utilized as a glorified floor spacer.

At this point, what do the Sixers have to lose?

Tyrese Maxey has been in this position before, and time and time again, he’s risen to the occasion. He scored 39 in the “Seven Sixers” game, beat the Miami Heat on his own down Joel Embiid and James Harden in the two teams’ regular season finale, and has taken over more than a few playoff games both this postseason and last. While turning in another 39-point performance won’t magically guarantee the Philadelphia 76ers a win, his infectious energy could be just what the doctor ordered to get this season back on track… assuming Philly’s Doc actually lets him do so.