Why Is Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey Thriving Alongside James Harden? ‘His Power Is Speed’

Joel Embiid isn’t the only member of the Philadelphia 76ers who’s thrilled to have James Harden now in the fold.

Harden and Embiid’s budding partnership has been the primary focus since the former made his Sixers debut last Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, second-year guard Tyrese Maxey has also greatly benefited from the Sixers’ addition of Harden.

Over Harden’s first three games with the Sixers, Maxey is averaging 24.7 points on 64.3 percent shooting, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 three-pointers, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals. He shot a season-best 12-of-16 en route to 28 points against the Timberwolves, and he followed that up with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting against the New York Knicks on Sunday and 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting against the Knicks on Wednesday.

Harden’s arrival has forced Maxey into more of an off-ball role, but he has quickly adapted.

“He’s back home, when you think about it,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers told reporters about Maxey after Sunday’s win over the Knicks. “He’s actually playing the position now that he’s played his whole life. So in some ways, he’s very comfortable playing the way he’s playing.”

After playing sparingly as a rookie, Maxey served as the Sixers’ full-time point guard this season in Ben Simmons’ absence. Prior to Harden’s debut, he averaged 16.9 points on 46.9 percent shooting, 4.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 triples in 35.6 minutes per game.

While Maxey held his own in that role, he was overtaxed as the Sixers’ primary on-ball creator. With Harden now taking on more of the ball-handling and playmaking duties, Maxey is thriving as an explosive off-ball weapon both in the half-court and in transition.

More than 22 percent of the Sixers’ possessions against the Timberwolves began in transition, per Cleaning the Glass, which ranked in the 95th percentile among all games this season. That was a marked departure from the pre-Harden era, during which only 14.8 percent of their plays began in transition.

After the win, Rivers told reporters that Harden’s passing vision unlocked new dimensions for the Sixers offense.

“Guys aren’t used to running and getting the ball, and [Harden] threw a bunch of them today,” he said. “The one thing we keep telling Tyrese, is we can get out in the open court. If you just run, he’ll get you the ball.”

Because Harden and Embiid command so much defensive attention, Maxey is finding himself more open than usual. He hasn’t had a defender within four feet of him on 29 of his 42 field-goal attempts since Harden’s debut, according to NBA.com.

When opponents shade help toward Harden or Embiid, Maxey is one pass away from an explosive drive to the basket.

If they lose track of him on the perimeter to wall off the paint, it’s game over.

Maxey has also been unsustainably hot from long range over the past few games. Hitting wide-open three-pointers is one thing; knocking down turnaround, fade-away, buzzer-beating triples is another thing entirely.

He already appears to have learned his newest teammate’s trademark step-back three, though.

After Sunday’s win over the Knicks, Maxey explained why he’s comfortable playing either on or off the ball alongside Harden.

“Throughout my short basketball career, high school, I played mostly on the ball,” he said. “And then AAU, we had different guys that could bring it up, so I played on and off the ball. I just try to pride myself on being a basketball player, being able to do both.

“I know when James is not in the game, for sure, I’ll probably have the ball in my hands, have to create for myself and others. And I know when he’s in the game, he’ll be on the ball for the most part, so I’ll have to knock down shots, play off closeouts and do my job.”

Although Maxey and the Sixers hit the ground running on offense in Harden’s first two games, they came out sluggish in Harden’s home debut Wednesday against the Knicks. They faced a 16-point deficit at one point in the second quarter, and Maxey went into halftime with only four points on 2-of-5 shooting and zero free-throw attempts.

After getting a pep talk from the 10-time All-Star, Maxey took over the third quarter, scoring a team-high 11 points on 2-of-3 shooting (2-of-2 from deep) and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

“James came up to me and asked me, ‘Was I gonna play today?’ Maxey said after the game. And I told him, ‘Yeah.'”

“We need him to be aggressive, like, a lot of times in the game,” Harden added. “I know it’s difficult because obviously myself and Jo got the ball. But when he has an opportunity, he needs to be aggressive, and we need that. In that second half, he played like we all need him to play and he knows how to play.”

While Harden and the new-look Sixers aced their first few tests, they’re about to head into a pivotal stretch. Their next four games all come against teams whom they might face in the playoffs—the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets—and 12 of their next 14 opponents are either .500 are above.

Embiid and Harden will remain the Sixers’ offensive focal points, but they’ll need help from Maxey and the rest of the supporting cast. They can’t afford slow starts against tougher opponents like they could against the Knicks on Wednesday.

If Maxey continues to thrive in a complementary role alongside Embiid and Harden, he’ll be one of the biggest X-factors who could swing this year’s title race. He also may be the key to building a championship contender around Embiid and Harden even if the Sixers fall short this season, as he’s on a dirt-cheap rookie contract for the next two years.

“He’s fearless now,” Rivers said after Wednesday’s win over the Knicks. “That’s what we needed him to be. His speed is power. That power creates fouls, or creates layups. And when he plays with that speed…there’s not a lot of guys with that speed in this league. And when he uses it, it’s great for us.”

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac.