76ers vs. Pistons: Doc Rivers on Tyrese Maxey’s Latest Showing

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers wasn’t hesitant to admit that Tyrese Maxey didn’t look like the best version of himself through his first couple of games back.

Coming off of an 18-game absence due to a fractured foot, Maxey was understandably rusty when he returned to the floor two Fridays ago. As expected, the young guard slowly but surely worked his way back to being the quick, aggressive, and fearless young guard he was before going out with an injury.

Following last Friday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, Rivers said that he believed Maxey’s burst was back. As the young guard was aggressive in the opening minutes of the Chicago matchup and finished the game by leading the Sixers in scoring, Rivers was encouraged, to say the least.

“You can see [his burst] is back,” said Rivers after Friday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. “More important is his shot’s back, you know? I think his shot sets up everything else for him. I think Tyrese is good to go.”

When the Sixers returned to the court on Sunday afternoon to face the Detroit Pistons, Maxey collected another start after coming off the bench for his first two games back since recovering from the injury.

Checking in for 33 minutes, Maxey once again helped lead the Sixers on the night. And in Doc Rivers’ eyes, that was the best pace the guard played with since returning to the lineup.

“That was the fastest he’s played tonight,” said Rivers after the Sixers’ Sunday night victory. “He had four or five bursts to the rim late. I thought the end of the third quarter was huge because they cut it to 12, and they got it back to 20, and a lot of that was from his pace and his attacks.”

Although Maxey struggled with his three-point shot, draining just two of his nine attempts from three, the young guard still led the Sixers in scoring with a 23-point outing. As he’s back to attacking with confidence, Maxey made all but three of his nine shots inside the arc.

The next step for Maxey is just finding consistency in all areas of the game. Before he went out with a fracture, Maxey averaged 23 points while draining 42 percent of his threes and 46 percent of all shots from the field.

In his five games back, Maxey put up 17 points per game while hitting on 36 percent of his threes on fewer attempts and 43 percent of his field goals. The reduced averages can be chalked up to the rust Maxey was shaking off in the first few games back.

For better reference, the young guard has passed the eye test over the last two games and has seen his averages normalize as he’s put up 25 points per game while hitting on 44 percent of his threes and 49 percent of his shots overall

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.