Pacers’ TJ McConnell Praises ‘Remarkable’ Tyrese Maxey
The Indiana Pacers got their first look at the Philadelphia 76ers in their new system on Sunday night. As tough as it was for the Sixers to put the Pacers away, Indiana simply didn’t have an answer for the thriving young guard Tyrese Maxey.
“I don’t think we slowed him down very much,” Pacers guard TJ McConnell told reporters after Sunday’s game.
The former Sixers guard stated the obvious after Philadelphia downed Indiana with a high-scoring 137-126 victory. While the game featured impressive offensive showings from stars on both sides of the court, nobody out-performed Maxey — not even the MVP, Joel Embiid, or the All-Star Tyrese Haliburton.
In the first half of action, Maxey knocked down ten of his first 16 shots. He scored 25 points in 19 minutes. In the second half, Maxey put up 16 more shots, finding the same results with ten makes. He tacked on another 25 points to score a career-high 50 points on Sunday.
“He’s about as big time as it gets,” McConnell continued. “Good kid, but his skill level is remarkable. The jump he’s made year after year and the growth that he’s made, I mean James [Harden] leaving, and now they give him the ball and give him the freedom to show what he can do, and he’s not disappointing. He’s a great, great guard.”
Anytime the Sixers were left with question marks about the status of the backcourt in the past, Maxey always had an answer. When Ben Simmons held out for a trade in 2021, Maxey was offered a temporary starting job and kept it long-term.
When Harden stayed away from the team this year, Maxey proved there wouldn’t be a steep drop-off in the playmaking department, which likely convinced the Sixers that he’s the point guard of the future and the present.
There’s a lot of basketball left to be played, but Maxey is putting together a solid campaign for a potential All-Star bid. Coming off a season where he averaged 20 points, three rebounds, and four assists while draining 48 percent of his shots, Maxey’s been on an entirely different level through his first nine games of the year.
Following his 50-point performance against Indiana, Maxey is now averaging 29 points, five rebounds, and seven assists while knocking down 51 percent of his shots from the field. Doing everything bigger, and more efficiently, Maxey has officially put the rest of the NBA on notice as he’s undeniably developing into a true star in the league.
