Tyrese Maxey’s season-saving performance in Game 5 vs. the Knicks Tuesday was a culmination of the work the Most Improved Player has put in — and continues to put in.
It feels good to be on the other side of one of those games, right?
The Sixers won Game 5 to keep their season alive Tuesday thanks in large part to Tyrese Maxey scoring seven points in the final 25 seconds of regulation to force overtime.
It was all part of the best playoff game of his career to date. He dropped 46 points off of seven made three-pointers to pull a rabbit out of the hat and preserve the Sixers’ season with a 112-106 victory.
Tyrese Maxey put on an absolute SHOW in Game 5 with playoff career-highs in PTS and 3PM as the @sixers force a Game 6!
46 PTS
9 AST
7 3PM
Game-tying 3 to force OTGame 6 is Thursday on TNT pic.twitter.com/jMu91iucon
— NBA (@NBA) May 1, 2024
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Maxey has been practicing that logo three all season, unfazed by how much was riding on that shot.
“That’s just a lot of reps,” he said, “going right, throwing the ball out, chasing. [Assistant coach] Rico [Hines] has been on me about shooting deep ones and I’ve been working on it all year, and it paid off.”
While Maxey’s confidence may have been shaken throughout the night, none of his teammates doubted the 23-year-old in his first All-Star season to carry them to the finish line.
At the podium, Maxey told a story about Buddy Hield coming over to him on the bench after missing three free throws earlier in the fourth quarter. After being upset with himself, Maxey said that Hield told him, “you know what you can do, go out there and make up for it.”
Instilling confidence in teammates is something Maxey has been doing since his rookie year. When Tobias Harris was asked when he thought Maxey could be that type of playoff performer, he went all the way back to Maxey’s first season.
Harris, as have many others, credited Maxey for winning them Game 6 against the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 conference semi-finals.
“And you saw like, flashes of how good he can be,” Harris said, “and how he really embraces the moment.”
Harris certainly hasn’t been surprised to see what Maxey’s grown into since he’s been given more ball-handling responsibilities.
“Tonight, in the fourth quarter, the last minute, what he was able to do for us was spectacular,” he said, “and even in overtime, we were expecting him to make every play for us.”
Ever the hard worker, Maxey hardly took a moment to savor his heroics before getting ready for Game 6.
He was asked about the similarities to his 25 seconds to Reggie Miller’s Madison Square Garden heroics over 20 years ago. The Indiana Pacers legend scored eight points in nine seconds back in 1995 to steal another playoff game away from the Knicks.
Maxey acknowledged he talked about that moment with trainers, but didn’t want to dwell on it long.
“Honestly, I know this is like, cliche or whatever, I’m trying to flush the game, I know what we have to do in 48 hours,” he said, “we can’t let this roll over… our season’s back on the line come Thursday.”