PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers had their chances to avoid disaster on Monday night. Playing against a short-handed Denver Nuggets team, the Sixers had a chance tied at 120 with 22.3 seconds left after Paul George pulled down a Jalen Pickett miss.
Tyrese Maxey walked the ball down and began dribbling out the clock. When Philadelphia got into its action, the Nuggets sent defenders, Maxey lost the ball, recovered, and fired up a prayer at the buzzer that trickled off the rim as overtime loomed.
Then, after Joel Embiid was called for a goaltend off a Bruce Brown shot attempt, the Sixers had another chance down 125-124 with 5.3 seconds left. Maxey had a look as he turned the corner, but stumbled a bit and threw up a floater that fell short as Philadelphia fell to the Nuggets.
“I tripped over my foot,” a deflated Maxey said of his shot in overtime. “I tried to shoot it when I was falling.”
Coach Nick Nurse drew up a good play for the star guard to get downhill and get to his spot on the floor, but the execution just wasn’t there for the final shot.
“It was OK,” Nurse said after the loss. “I mean, he kind of turned the corner, got kind of whirled off balance, and probably wasn’t as clean a look as he wanted to get, but it was just OK.”
As far as that shot in regulation is concerned, the action the Sixers wanted to get into was the guard-guard screen with VJ Edgecombe. It worked out well in the win over the Memphis Grizzlies on the road trip as Edgecombe flared out for the game-winning 3. It sounds like Maxey wanted something similar.
“The biggest thing I learned for regulation was, like, me and VJ have a good connection when we do the little 1-2 screen, but I wish he came a little bit early,” Maxey explained. “I wish he came a little bit earlier so I had time to, like, kind of operate, if I wanted to swing, if I wanted to drive it. Once I came off the screen, like, four or five seconds left, and then they were kind of faking the double at me, and that was a little difficult for me.”
This is all still a learning process for the 6-year guard out of Kentucky. Maxey is learning how to use his voice and get guys in the right positions in order to get the right shots. The loss to the Nuggets was another learning experience for him.
“I think I’m just learning, like, what I want to, like, get into,” Maxey finished. “What I want to, how I want to play with, where I want guys, and that’s the biggest thing that I’m kind of learning.”
The Sixers will look to bounce back when they take on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.