Nick Nurse Breaks Down Tyrese Maxey's Struggles vs. Heat

On Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers took on the Miami Heat, as they looked to extend their win streak to three games.

They'd have to attempt this without Joel Embiid, as the reigning MVP sat out of the match with an ankle sprain, which he suffered in the win over Toronto last week.

With the Sixers' leading scorer out, all eyes were glued to Tyrese Maxey, the team's second leading scorer, as it was anticipated that he'd be the primary offensive option.

While he certainly got the looks that a primary option would receive, he failed to capitalize on them, having a rather lackluster performance against the Heat, finishing the night with 12 points on 20 percent shooting.

Maxey's 12-point night is his second-lowest scoring performance of the season, beating out his nine-point outing against the Pistons earlier in the month, as well as being his second-lowest night in terms of field goal percentage.

When giving his thoughts on Maxey's tough night, Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse felt that Miami had done their homework on home, while some of it was a result of chance.

"I mean obviously, they had some schemes in to double team him, and give him a ton of space, and things like that," Nurse told reporters, "They made him work, I do think he got to some pretty good places and just had one of those kind of nights."

Apart from the 23-year-old being on pace to be a serious contender for an All-Star spot, the performance came as a surprise, given his career splits against Miami, which includes 19 points per game on a highly efficient 52 percent from the field.

Despite his performance, Nurse felt that Maxey was able to find himself in plenty of scoring positions despite the presence of players like Bam Adebayo and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

"I thought he had some really good looks early from three," said Nurse, "I thought he got into the paint a few times, I thought they played him pretty physical..."

To Nurse's point, Maxey struggled on the interior, only managing to make three shots in the paint out of a total six attempts, most of them came in the form of layups that simply didn't find the bottom of the net.

The Sixers' head coach doesn't want to put too much thought into it, merely chalking it up as an off night for the team's second-leading scorer.

"I think, more than anything, it was just one of those nights for him."