Instant observations: Tyrese Maxey becomes Sixers’ all-time three-point shooting leader in critical win over Miami

PHILADELPHIA – There was a distinct buzz in the air on Thursday night, for reasons both practical and sentimental.

On paper, the Sixers were playing host to the Miami Heat in an important matchup. The Sixers entered the game in sole possession of the Eastern Conference’s No. 6 seed, the final surefire playoff bid. In addition to only having a 0.5-game lead over the No. 7 seed Orlando Magic, the Sixers were only ahead of the No. 8 seed Heat by 1.5 games. Because Miami won in Philadelphia in November and the teams only face off three times this season, as Sixers head coach Nick Nurse pointed out, a Heat win would have meant the Sixers were on the wrong end of any tiebreaker scenario.

Meanwhile, Tyrese Maxey entered Thursday three three-pointers behind Allen Iverson as he pursued the Sixers’ franchise record for triples. He needed to make four threes against a very strong Miami defense to notch the record in front of his home fans. 

So, on multiple fronts, the Sixers’ 124-117 win over Miami – kickstarted by a Maxey long-range heater and powered by a potent offensive performance – represented exactly what fans in attendance were pulling for. Maxey notched the record in the first quarter and helped the Sixers build a healthy lead they never relinquished. Joel Embiid, in his second game back on the floor, was good despite an injury scare, which limited him for much of the second half. The Sixers avoided letting another catastrophic third quarter sink them and pulled out an important victory.

Takeaways from a joyous night in Philadelphia:

Sixers escape after difficult second half

The Sixers ended the first half of Thursday’s game on an excellent note; they outscored Miami 37-22 in the second quarter and had a 16-point lead at intermission. They were totally flat upon returning from the locker room, with the Heat staging a 24-7 run to erase a large deficit and create a lead of their own. While Miami deserves credit for a red-hot three-point shooting stretch, it was troubling how suddenly the Sixers’ offense went from humming along to struggling mightily.

The Sixers were able to find a brief lift late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter – some shots finally going down for Cam Payne was helpful – but they were not able to get their lead back to a healthy place, instead spending much of the game within a basket or two of Miami. Embiid really struggled to assert himself during this prolonged period; as hard as he tried to avoid being impacted by the pain he was experiencing, he just did not have the pep in his step which helped him get off to an excellent start.

With the game tied at the 4:22 mark of the fourth quarter and Embiid on the bench, the Sixers’ starting guards forced a Miami timeout with clutch buckets. But the Heat responded, as Tyler Herro scored five unanswered points to put them ahead. Maxey, who was frustrated with officiating all night, was able to draw a foul and put the Sixers ahead by a point at the line, then assisted a crucial Kelly Oubre Jr. triple, the veteran swingman’s third triple of what was a terrific night.

Embiid returned to the game with 67 seconds left and the Sixers leading by four. Herro missed a three, and Embiid cashed one in from the corner to put the game away. Based on their early play, the Sixers should not have needed to pull off any sort of escape job. But they came through down the stretch, with Maxey, Oubre and Embiid each providing important late plays.

Tyrese Maxey goes into the record books

Maxey became the Sixers’ all-time leader in made three-pointers on Thursday night, passing Allen Iverson for the franchise record. It took Maxey only 375 games to get to his 886th career triple, eclipsing Iverson’s mark in nearly half of the games. And while it is undeniable that three-point volume has gone up leaps and bounds from Iverson’s time to Maxey’s, Maxey has taken over 500 fewer long-range attempts in a Sixers uniform than Iverson did.

Maxey needed to make four triples to notch the record on his home floor, and he knocked down five threes in the first quarter alone.

It is, of course, ironic that Maxey, a five-star recruit to the University of Kentucky, fell into the Sixers’ laps at No. 21 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft in part because of his shaky three-point shooting in a tiny sample with the Wildcats.

“What I remember most is we had [an order on draft day],” former Sixers head coach Doc Rivers, now of the Milwaukee Bucks, said last month. “They rank one through 30 and no matter where it goes, they’re going to pick [the highest] number. I remember [assistant coach] Sam Cassell had kind of fallen on Maxey, but there was a couple guys in front of him that hadn’t been drafted, and we were, like, in a silent panic… And it all fell for us. It did. It really just fell right into our hands, and it was nice.”  

Maxey has made multiple massive leaps as a shooter since arriving in Philadelphia, but even his production in high school and AAU hinted that he was going to be a far better shooter than his collegiate three-point percentage would indicate. He is going to finish a season shooting more than eight three-point shots per game for the third consecutive campaign, and Maxey pairing his elite speed with lethal pull-up shooting is what has enabled him to become an NBA star two years ago, and on the fringes of superstardom these days.

A perfect recipe for Maxey’s development: early opportunity – Ben Simmons’ trade request vaulted Maxey into Rivers’ starting point guard spot as a sophomore – plus tremendous skill, a tireless work ethic which has become legendary in Philadelphia and Camden, and a pair of superstar teammates in Embiid and James Harden who have made tangibly positive impacts on Maxey’s style and efficiency.

But nobody deserves more credit for this achievement than Maxey himself. And by the time his Sixers career is over, odds are he will have built a massive lead over Iverson.

Odds and ends

Some additional notes:

• Maxey’s record-setting triple was assisted by Trendon Watford, a close friend of his dating back to their time as teenagers at the McDonald’s All American Game. It is a neat part of one of the most special moments of Maxey’s career to date. Also, Watford’s strong burst of minutes to end Tuesday’s win over Indiana was enough to get him back into the rotation on Thursday.

• Among other rotation tweaks made by Nurse: Watford and Jabari Walker were both in the rotation, but Watford was ahead of Walker; Dominick Barlow had a brief stint playing center when Embiid was in the locker room getting an injury checked out; Oubre logged multiple stints as a small-ball power forward alongside Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes.

• Nurse said before the game that rookie center Johni Broome is undergoing surgery for his torn meniscus on Saturday. Nurse did not rule out Broome returning this season, but implied it was not particularly likely.

Up next: The Sixers will have a pair of days off before they take the floor in Boston on Sunday night, their fourth and final matchup with the Celtics this season – but their first since November.

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