Nick Nurse Reflects on Pacers' Adjustments on Tyrese Maxey

Coming off an exciting matchup on Sunday, the Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers squared off again on Tuesday. In the second go around, it was Tyrese Haliburton and company who came away victorious. They put an end to the Sixers' win streak with a 132-126 victory.

When these teams first matched up, Tyrese Maxey erupted for a career-high 50 points. Heading into game two, the Pacers made sure to limit the Sixers' explosive guard. Maxey still put together a solid performance, but nothing to the degree of what he did on Sunday.

After the game, Nick Nurse reflected on Indiana's adjustments on Maxey. Along with sending more bodies at him, he felt they were more physical with him from the opening tip.

"I thought they were doing some things on the pick-and-roll, sending a little more help," Nurse said. "I thought they were awful physical. I don't know how many free throws he shot but it should have been three times what he shot. They bumped him on a ton of those shots and they started early and continued to do that the whole game."

Maxey ended up finishing the game with 27 points, four rebounds, and five assists in 38 minutes of action. Even with the Pacers being more aggressive with him, Nurse was pleased with the production he got from his starting point guard. Over the course of a long season, he understands Maxey isn't going to be the focal point every night.

"I think he still played good," Nurse continued. "It's basketball man, you play 82. Some nights you're gonna have a role and some nights you're not, some nights you're gonna be in the middle of all that. I thought he did come to life there and give us a chance in the fourth quarter."

Now that teams have seen what Maxey is doing this season, the kind of defense he sees is going to change. This type of physical defense is something he'll have to adjust to moving forward. Opponents are not going to let him get comfortable and open the door for him to have a big scoring night.

Maxey and the Sixers don't have much time to dwell on this matchup as they play the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night in the second leg of a back-to-back.