Tyrese Maxey, Sixers Praise Grizzlies' Ja Morant After Overtime Battle

Monday night's game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Memphis Grizzlies was fixing to become the Ja Morant versus Joel Embiid show. As Embiid's been putting on an MVP-caliber season and Morant's looked like one of the best guards in the game this year, all eyes were on the two respected stars on Monday.

But the Sixers shook the situation up. While Embiid's been fantastic lately, he played in 21-straight games leading up to the Monday night matchup. A rest day was expected at some point, and the team decided that the Grizzlies game was the time to do it.

Therefore, Embiid was ruled out early on Monday night for planned rest. At that point, the matchup had less juice to it, considering Memphis defeated the Sixers by 35 points the last time they battled it out without Embiid on the court. Fortunately for everybody's viewing pleasure, several Sixers stepped up to make it a game.

Embiid's replacement Andre Drummond had himself a double-double with 16 points and 23 rebounds. Tobias Harris put up 31 points in 40 minutes. Meanwhile, Tyrese Maxey was the one to trade blows with Morant as the Sixers' second-year guard collected a team-high of 33 points, just four fewer than Morant.

"[Just] two competitors trying to win," said Maxey in regards to his battle with the Memphis superstar. "That's about it. He's an All-Star starter. We know what he can do. He's very talented, dynamic getting downhill, and very athletic. We did our best to contain him and just try to get the W."

All night long, Morant could do what he typically does by making shots that not many others in the game can make. Despite being the enemy to the Wells Fargo Center crowd, there were points during the game where even Sixers fans couldn't help but be impressed with Morant's tough baskets.

But as the game progressed, Doc Rivers preached something to his team; There are no style points in basketball. Even though Morant's tough makes can be frustrating for the defense, the result on the scoreboard is the same as a simple layup.

"I kept telling our guys don't overreact," explained Rivers. "His two points seem like they're more than two, and we talked about that at halftime. Like okay, I know it's an amazing shot, but I swear to God, he only gets two points for them. So just don't overreact and just keep playing, and I thought we did that."

Despite sending that message to his team, Rivers made sure to praise the Grizzlies star for what he puts on display night in and night out. "He's just tough," the coach continued. "He's a helluva player, man. He made shot after shot after shot for them."

Philadelphia's Andre Drummond echoed a similar sentiment.

"He’s a great athlete,” Drummond said. “He’s able to make spectacular plays, and get the ooh’s and ahh’s from the crowd. ... He’s a great basketball player. He made great plays down the stretch and you gotta tip your hat off to him."

Morant finished the game off with 37 points in 41 minutes. While he stole the show with highlights, the Sixers managed to put Morant and the Grizzlies away, though, by defeating them 122-119.

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

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