What is the story about?
It’s possible these jerseys literally turned Tyrese Maxey into 2001 Allen Iverson.
The Sixers outlasted the Milwaukee Bucks to beat them 123-114 in overtime Thursday night.
Maxey looked every bit the franchise icon, dropping a career-high 54 points. He did it so on 18-of-30 shooting along with nine assists.
Paul George was the only other Sixer who remotely had it going on, posting 21 points and five rebounds, shooting 7-of-12 from the field in a little under 25 minutes of play.
Quentin Grimes and VJ
Edgecombe were the only Sixers to reach double digits, with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Ryan Rollins led the Bucks with 32.
Joel Embiid missed his sixth straight game with a right knee injury while the Bucks are trudging on without Giannis Antetekoumnpo, who’s out at least a week with a groin injury.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- What a way to break in the black uniforms for PG. He scored the team’s first 11 points— going right by Myles Turner for a basket at the hoop before knocking down his first three triples of the game. He continued to be responsible for the scoring, finding Edgecombe in transition for a lob.
- The offense did slow down after his six-minute shift, but they found some energy in the form of Edwards’ perimeter defense. He was a pest for Ryan Rollins early, nabbing two early steals while picking up a couple more deflections. He wasn’t quite tall enough for Brandon Ingram the night before, but he’s been fairly active on that end the past few games.
- As a whole, the Sixers did a good job attacking the Bucks’ ball handlers to cause six turnovers in the quarter and score 10 fast break points. Jared McCain finally got a bounce to go his way, getting a big friendly hop to give them a 13-point just before the quarter expired.
Second Quarter
- That defensive cohesion seemed to slip away when they missed their first four shots of the second and the Bucks ripped off a 10-0 run. McCain got picked on a bit but he ended the run with a layup and padded on as he and Grimes each knocked down a three.
- For as well as the Sixers started on the perimeter, the Bucks were able to start shooting pretty well themselves from beyond the arc once they were able to get better looks. Milwaukee made six of their first 10 threes to start the quarter, having a lot of open looks thanks to drives collapsing them.
- Without George and McCain on the floor the Sixers offense became pretty dependent on Maxey, who scored 11 of their last 13 points before the half. He was extraordinary in the half, scoring 23 points on 61.5% field goal percentage. The Bucks continued to take care of the ball and thus kept easily attacking. They took a two-point lead into the half to finish off a big quarter.
Third Quarter
- The most annoying whistle in basketball is when the ref waits to see if the shot goes in before calling it. That’s not to say that the calls for Andre Drummond’s fourth and fifth fouls were incorrect — they were the right calls — but it’s irritating nonetheless.
- This fast break started by George was the first of a few solid defensive plays the Sixers strung together to bring them back. Dominick Barlow backed up Drummond at the five and picked up a couple blocks in quick succession. Trendon Watford couldn’t buy a bucket but grabbed a steal to help a Maxey fast-break.
- It is totally random, but it is wild how this is the only quarter the Sixers can’t take care of the ball. They gave it away four times after only turning it over three times in the first half. Once again, they could only find one source of scoring — Maxey scored or assisted every field goal of the quarter. The Sixers found themselves trailing by four after George couldn’t get a shot off at the buzzer.
Fourth Quarter
- Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but so many of the Sixers’ problems are erased when their best player is just unconscious offensively. Maxey started off doing most of his damage inside, but his shot started falling as the game went on, burying a couple threes and a deep midrange jumper. George continued to pull his weight when he was out there, using his gravity to get Barlow a layup then driving for a basket of his own.
- A big reason so many of the other Sixers had poor shooting lines was that they were just missing their bunnies. After Edgcombe missed his second layup of the night, the offensive rebound found Grimes, who was able to shake his defender for an open layup himself. They finally seemed to find a groove again as Maxey found Edgecombe to redeem himself with an alley-oop on the next possession. They ran another hurdle around this time though as George hit his minutes limit for the night, subbing out with just under five minutes to go.
- The Sixers shooting themselves in the foot out of their use-it-or-lose-it timeout, turning the ball over immediately, allowing the Bucks to hit their second consecutive three to tie up the game. Edwards was replacing George down the stretch and he was really struggling from the floor. He missed a couple threes, one rimming in and out, failing to extend a one-point lead Maxey had given them and falling to 1-of-8 from the floor.
- After drawing an offensive foul, the Sixers still found themselves up one with about 50 seconds to go. Maxey tried to back down Rollins but got his pocket picked. Kyle Kuzma nearly got bottled up but was able to dish it out to Myles Turner for a three that put the Bucks back ahead by two. The Sixers in-bounded to Barlow who screened for Maxey. Maxey snaked his way into the paint and was able to draw a foul on a very contested runner, tying the game up with seven seconds to go. The Sixers didn’t use George for offense but did for the last defensive possession, where they forced a tough stepback three by Rollins that didn’t come close.
Overtime
- Edwards was able to find a little bit of redemption himself, knocking down his first three of the night when a Grimes drive-and-kick left him fairly open. Maxey crossed the 50-point mark with a pretty left-handed floater and gave his old coach a smile in celebration.
- It helped that Turner didn’t hit his threes, but Drummond did a better job having to chase him around in OT. That said, he did still foul out just after a miscommunication caused a turnover with Maxey. For as great as he was, Maxey turned it over for his fifth time shortly after trying to dribble through a double team.
- Maxey’s teammates finally started to hit shots though, as Grimes buried a three with a hand in his face. He would then get to the line, split the pair, but get to the line on the very same possession thanks to Barlow grabbing the offensive rebound. Those free throws were enough of a lead late to get them the win, and Maxey was still able to draw a couple fouls to get to the line to set a new career-high.
