Maxey's Rough Night Dooms Sixers in Second Night of Back-to-Back Against Suns

With Paul George ruled out shortly before tip-off and Joel Embiid unavailable, Tyrese Maxey was left to carry the load on the second night of a back-to-back. He did not have the juice, causing the Sixers to eventually cave in a battle with the Phoenix Suns. Their uneven play at home continues.

Here's what happened.

Pulling in on drives

Both teams let this game swing back and forth until midway through the third quarter, when the Suns embarked on a 36-16 run to flip a seven-point deficit into a 13-point lead. Grayson Allen was the biggest culprit of that, striking when the Sixers stepped away from the weak side of the floor. Allen didn't just hit a bunch of threes. He found an opening to crash baseline on a teammate's miss to score the putback.

Allen underscored a big issue for Philadelphia in this game — and, frankly, one that has persisted for most of this season. He was getting open because the Sixers struggle to guard the ball on the perimeter. It is not a problem that Embiid can fix with his presence, alone. It is not one that George would've remedied by himself. They jumped hard at contests and sprinted into closeouts without control. They didn't have the foot speed or strength to stay in front of the ball on attacks. That's been a problem when the Sixers are on regular scheduling, let alone on the second night of a back-to-back.

But it's not Allen was functioning as the ball-handler. He was spacing around the floor, just as most non-creating shooters do. That he was open and free to roam about the arc was a domino effect of the Sixers failing to keep the ball in front, forcing teammates to patch up holes on dribble penetration. Philadelphia over-helped from the weak side of the floor to try to stop the ball. That, in turn, meant that they were funneling the ball to Allen.

Maybe that works if the offensive player is a reputed non-shooter. It's a recipe for disaster when that player is a shooter of Allen's talent.

Allen did the most damage, but he wasn't the only one to benefit from the Sixers' messy defense. Philadelphia actually recorded more offensive rebounds than the Suns did in this game. But Phoenix's work on their own misses felt more timely.

The Sixers, to be clear, tax their bigs with their troubles in stopping dribble penetration. That Philadelphia's size had to lift away from the rim to thwart drives was a reason the Sixers weren't in position on the defensive glass. But Phoenix had shooters all over the three-point arc while the Sixers were collapsed toward the rim, leaving the Suns open to line up back-breaking triples.

Another rough Maxey game

I will start this out by crediting Maxey for some excellent passing reads. The Suns tried to funnel the ball away from him and make anyone else beat them, and he obliged. Phoenix iced him against the left sideline at times in the first half, and he ripped passes across the court to find Justin Edwards and Kelly Oubre Jr. for threes.

In the disastrous third quarter, Maxey got into the paint and made a cross-court skip pass to Oubre for another three and then strung out a double-team into the corner before rifling a pass to Dominick Barlow cutting down the slot for a score at the hoop.

That was about the end of the good for the marvelous Mr. Maxey. He relied on his floater all night long, failing to get all the way to the rim. Perhaps the floater wouldn't have been the end of the world if he had touch in this game, but Maxey did not have shooting touch for long stretches of this game. He struggled with Phoenix's physicality at times, getting stuck in no man's land after picking up his dribble with nowhere to go some 15 feet from the basket.

To Maxey's credit, he didn't just spend possessions trying to drum up energy when he was off the ball. The Suns turned him into a cutter, and he ran some routes to get open. But this is still the third game out of the last four that Maxey has looked rather pedestrian and struggled to shoot the ball efficiently.

Nick Nurse attributed it to the ebbs and flows of the season. But it's easy to tell that he's a bit worn down. When the ball is in his hands, the ball pressure is extended high to guard against his range as a shooter. Teams are putting their ballhawks on him, so he's matched up with some of the league's most challenging guard defenders. And when he's off the ball, Maxey is having to grapple with physicality. Defenders are grabbing and pushing, top-locking and face-guarding. It's exhausting to watch and probably even more tiring to play through. But heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Spare thoughts

Edgecombe sprinted back in transition on a live-ball turnover and blew up a lob at the rim. The precision to jump at the right time and avoid contact with the dunker was incredible. Superstar defensive play, young buck.

Another really good game of scoring from Oubre. He had the hot hand as a three-point shooter. The Sixers needed someone to do it. He's found his footing fairly quickly since returning from the knee injury.

It is quite unfortunate that two of the Sixers' most prolific drivers (Oubre and Quentin Grimes) also have the tendency to get stripped off their legs when driving.

Similar to Andre Drummond's occasional corner three, Maxey's blindside steal bit is only fun when it works. When it doesn't work, it leaves a shooter wide open one pass away, and that's unforgivable. He got burned on one late in this game.

Pulling in on drives

Another rough Maxey game

Spare thoughts

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