Sixers Coach Commends Tyrese Maxey's Recent Fourth Quarter Heroics

Tyrese Maxey lands praise from Sixers head coach Nick Nurse.

On Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers looked to even up their playoff series against the New York Knicks, following a close game to open the postseason.

Similar to how the Sixers came out on Saturday night, they started off the second matchup on top of the Knicks, going into halftime with a four point lead mainly off of the contributions of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

While Embiid has remained on Philadelphia's injury report since his return to action due to injury recovery, Maxey was a late addition for Monday's affair as the All-Star had been suffering from a cold which caused him to miss the Sixers' shootaround.

Granted his ailment didn't affect his efforts in the first half, with the 23-year-old dropping 20 points in the opening two quarters, which includes his three straight makes from beyond the arch to open the game for the Sixers.

Despite this hot start, the one time All-Star would cool off in the third quarter failing to record a basket, finding more success in dishing the ball to his teammates, as he recorded four assists.

With Philadelphia going into the fourth quarter behind New York by five points, Maxey put on a stellar showing to end the game, scoring 15 points in the final quarter, which pleased Sixers' head coach Nick Nurse.

"There were stretches of the game where didn't see him being so aggressive, but certainly, like, the last 15 minutes, he was really chasing it down and turning on the jets and slamming on all the things he can do just time and time again," explained Nurse, "so thought he was great when it really mattered."

Despite his late-game heroics, the Sixers fell to the Knicks, 101-104, to give New York a firm 2-0 lead in the series as it heads back to the Wells Fargo Center.