76ers’ Tyrese Maxey points to hardships that prepared him for playoffs

CAMDEN, N.J. — Tyrese Maxey is more prepared for the playoffs than he ever has been.

The Philadelphia 76ers’ star guard has improved significantly this season, becoming the perfect complement to Joel Embiid. Their play-in game against the Miami Heat is the first step in what they hope will be a long playoff run. Maxey’s performance will play a major role in determining how much longer Philly’s postseason dance will go.

Maxey had no choice but to serve as the top option for the Sixers during the months Embiid was sidelined and recovering from a meniscus injury. While Philly slid down the standings, Maxey got valuable experience facing defensive game plans with him as the top target.

“I feel like I’ve seen a lot,” Maxey said, “and I’m not gonna say I’ve seen it all ’cause it’s still only year four. But I’ve seen a lot and I think I’m prepared for a lot of different coverages, a lot of different schemes. I think my mind has expanded. So, I mean, that’s good for us and it’s good for myself as well.”

Tyrese Maxey averaged 26.3 points, 5.6 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 34 games without Embiid this season. Although he shot just 43.4 percent from the field and 34.2 percent from deep in those games, he stayed competitive and aggressive. The team did a better job of getting organized without Embiid, a task made easier with the addition of guys like Kyle Lowry, Buddy Hield and Cam Payne.

The word “aggressive” has been the word of choice for Nick Nurse to describe what he wants from Maxey all season long.

“He’s gotta be aggressive, he’s gotta be assertive and then just keep doing what he’s doing,” the 76ers’ head coach said. “I think his fight, his competitiveness, his defense, toughness, all those things have risen and that’s super important right now.”

The skill and game-planning to shine in the playoffs are one thing. But it also takes physical preparedness, too. After a long regular season comes a more intense, physical style of basketball.

Tyrese Maxey said that players have to “grind for” playoff conditioning. He remembered after the second round of his second season, his first as a full-time starter, he was “exhausted.” In the final two games of that series, he shot just 11-32 from the field, including 2-11 on three-pointers.

“I felt my body breaking down,” he said. “For me, [during] the summers, I try to lift a lot. And during the season I try to maintain lifting and I spend a lot of time with my conditioning — and now I feel great. This is the best I feel going into the playoffs since I started playing in the NBA.”

That series, perhaps not all that coincidentally, came against the Heat, whose obsession with playing hard and doing all the gritty, dirty work has made them a formidable playoff opponent. Now with two more seasons under his belt, Maxey is better equipped not only to play in the postseason but lead the way. He said that he “learned a lot” from that Heat series and that it made him a better player.

The 76ers having two days between their final regular-season game and the play-in has afforded them a little extra rest. It also heightens the anticipation of a showdown between two tough teams who will look to secure the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

“So I’m prepared. I’m just ready to play now,” Tyrese Maxey said. “I just don’t like sitting around waiting. I just wanna play and go out there and leave it all on the line.”