This is what I saw.
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Give Maxey the ball!
Tyrese Maxey has had more dominant offensive performances to open this excellent season of his, but his first half against Toronto was the most impressive back-and-forth stretch I can remember playing. He led the Sixers in scoring, as we expect him to these days, adding excellent field play and plenty of defensive highlights to put Philadelphia back in front at halftime.
Although he had a defensive reputation coming out of high school and, to a lesser extent, at Kentucky, Maxey struggled to fight through contact, navigate off-ball situations, and balance his offensive responsibilities with his defense early in his career. Years of experience and plenty of time in the weight room have given him a fighting chance against most of the guards he faces, and with guys like Edgecombe and Grimes often taking on the toughest assignments, Maxey now has opportunities to take advantage of his speed and improved floor reads to create defensive plays. He had two steals and a block in 17 first-half minutes, flashing into space to boost Philadelphia’s transition game.
(This says as much about the other guys as it does about his own play, but I thought the Sixers looked much stronger defensively with him there. The three-guard lineup with McCain/Edgecombe/Grimes had Nurse tearing his hair out in the second quarter.)
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In the halfcourt, Maxey has become this version of the team’s Embiid, where he earns the vast majority of his minutes and starts to choke the moment he hits the bench. That is somewhat related to Embiid and George’s injuries as they can’t help the backup units float without their star guard on the floor, but it’s a testament to how many possessions end with Maxey getting something out of nothing. If there are eight seconds on the clock and nothing really happens, throwing the ball to Maxey is quite viable this season.
Maxey hit Raptors players with a couple of bad crossovers on step-back jumpers, and I thought he did a much better job attacking switches than in previous games, quickly identifying when he had the speed advantage to get someone to the basket. There’s still a part of me that feels like I shouldn’t have To create much of their offense out of nothing, they could be a little more deliberate with what they’re executing to create cleaner looks, but it’s hard to argue with the results they’re putting on the board.
Honestly, and this seems hard to believe, I thought it should have been even further involved in this game. Toronto made an effort to waste the game with traps, zone looks and other coverages to get Maxey off the ball and affect his effectiveness. But it felt like a game in which he took advantage of almost every opportunity the Raptors gave him. Nowhere near his best scoring game, but it was a very good night.
Holy safety ball, Batman
Basically, this game came down to one basic statistic: turnovers. Philadelphia gave the ball away 21 different times and everyone contributed to making it the problem of the night. Two for Justin Edwards, three for Dominick Barlow, three for Andre Drummond, four for VJ Edgecombe, three for Tyrese Maxey, and so on down the list. It wasn’t as bad as the lows of the early Brett Brown/Joel Embiid teams, who gave the ball away like they’d learned they weren’t allowed to have it, but it wasn’t that far off.
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It was the determining factor in what became another disastrous third quarter. The Sixers ended up losing the third period by 18 points, doing everything they could to dig themselves out of the hole in the fourth and never getting over the hump. It turns out that you can’t leave all your work to do in the last quarter over and over again without burning out.
I know the big man isn’t exactly turnover-proof, but this is a matchup where you can see the value of taking advantage of the big man’s inside-out gifts. You can punish the Raptors for changing ball screens, use him in isolation when guards turn the ball over on handoffs and cutbacks, and find some sense of calm around the rim on both ends.
Unlocking the young guards
Jared McCain’s inability to get going and Nick Nurse’s reluctance to play him have put a damper on what would have otherwise been a good start for their young defense. Forget about playing well; It’s been a struggle for McCain to play. period, Nurse relegated him to about five minutes a night in recent games.
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Nurse gave McCain a little more leeway against Toronto, effectively using him as Maxey’s backup, if not as a backup point guard. Playing alongside Edgecombe and Grimes, they handed him the ball to start more possessions than on his “cardio” shift he played in the Clippers game. Fortunately, he hit his first shot of the season by separating himself from Immanuel Quickley on a mid-range jumper, calmly adding his two points:
The saying “you only need to see one go down” apparently rang true for McCain, who found the confidence to hit a pull-up three during the same shift, making his first shot from downtown since last December. If they can get him on offense, they could find a viable path to gain minutes with Maxey on the bench.
Unfortunately, McCain was on the wrong end of some mouse-in-the-house sequences at the other end of the court, where you have to give the Raptors some credit. Toronto did an outstanding job of utilizing the size of Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett against guard mismatches, and McCain specifically was punished by the bigger Raptors on several different possessions. Worse yet, his brief spark on offense quickly faded, with McCain showering the night with a 2/7 shooting line (1/4 from three). Not exactly the breakneck pace of last season.
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Moving on to the newbie. One of the biggest selling points for top-three pick VJ Edgecombe was that the NBA space would allow him to take advantage of his athleticism and make downhill plays as a scorer and passer. We’ve definitely seen moments like that in his young career… plus Edgecombe’s youthful exuberance getting the best of him in space.
Their first half was mostly a disaster Wednesday, certainly on offense. Edgecombe’s habit of taking a step away from the basket is something they need to work on this season and (more likely) during his first full NBA offseason, and it was at the center of his problems in the first half on Wednesday. Instead of taking an extra dribble to get deeper into the paint, Edgecombe continually forced tough runners and layups as a result of unnecessarily long shooting spots. For perhaps the first time all season, you saw your teammates get frustrated with what Edgecombe was seeing (or not seeing) on offense, with Tyrese Maxey having a visible scowl on his face after a few scattered Edgecombe possessions.
But the game changed for Edgecombe after a two-handed flush on the break at the end of the first half. After listening to the pain of his coach and teammates for much of the first 24 minutes, Edgecombe played with a new level of energy after that score, immediately stealing the ball from the Raptors and hitting Tyrese Maxey with a pass down the court for a transition three. He closed the first half with a small tear in the lane, and from there everything continued. After laying down some clean layups on off-ball cuts and downhill drives off screens, Edgecombe put together the sequence of the night, smashing a defensive rebound before going coast-to-coast for a jaw-dropping dunk on the run:
Over time, you’ll figure out your timing on drives, not to mention how to pace yourself in games, so there’s more consistent production throughout the night instead of these blitzes we’re getting so far. It was a tremendously fun experience, with a lot to clean up.
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Other notes
– Quentin Grimes, the kid of the fourth quarter, is becoming a thing. He made some absolutely huge shots to get the Sixers back into this game, shots that, frankly, you have no business making with a hand in your face and little separation to take your shot. Tremendously fun to watch when he’s rolling.
– I thought this was the best look Jabari Walker had all season. I’m not sure why, maybe because Toronto plays a lot of similarly sized players to contend with on the boards, but he felt like he was constantly around the ball, even though his stats were relatively pedestrian until his fourth quarter. And every time he hits a three, I think it’s worth celebrating.