Tyrese Maxey continues emergence — but 76ers need others to step up

The finale of Thursday night's matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers had both sides holding their breath, but in the end, the Sixers pulled out the 99-98 win behind 35 points from Tyrese Maxey. 

Thursday's win marked the first time that the Sixers have won consecutive games since their four-game streak to start the season. Currently 12-9, they sit in seventh place in the East thanks to the emergence of Maxey as one of the league's best scorers.

76ers' Tyrese Maxey continues emergence as star

Maxey's mark of 32.6 points-per-game is a career high and is third in the NBA, trailing only Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

For Maxey, there's not one specific aspect of his game that's experiencing such a jump from last season. He's always been a strong three-point shooter and one of the best in the league at attacking the rim. 

His shot percentages have stayed consistent compared to the last few years. The difference between the last few years to this season, though, is an increase in total volume. Maxey's average attempts of two-pointers, three-pointers and free throws have all seen an uptick this year. 

This season, Maxey has been scoring from all over; his 230 field goals made and 79 three-pointers made both rank second in the NBA. His 684 total points currently make up 28% of the Sixers' total points. 

From last season, Maxey has experienced a scoring increase of 6.3 points. This can be directly attributed to two reasons. 

The first reason for this rise in scoring is that Maxey leads the league in minutes per game. Averaging more than three minutes more than the next player on the list, Doncic, Maxey is playing 40 minutes per night. 

Ever since becoming a full-time starter in the 2021-22 season, Maxey has averaged about 36 minutes a game, always near but never at the top of the league. The Sixers can't really afford to have Maxey off the court since their offensive rating drops by over 11 points when he's not playing. 

Which leads to the second reason: injuries. 2023 MVP Joel Embiid has only played in eight of the Sixers' 21 games, while Paul George has only played in six. This trio has been on the court together for just one game this season. This lack of availability from the other star players has paved the way for Maxey to take over the team. 

With a four-game break next week, the Sixers have time for George, Embiid and even Kelly Oubre, who has missed the last nine games due to a knee injury, to get healthy and help support Maxey. Even though Maxey has been playing at an All-NBA level, he needs a healthy supporting cast if the 76ers have any intention of making noise in the East. 

It's been 25 years since the Sixers have played in an Eastern Conference Championship game. Maxey may be the one leading that charge, but the rest of the supporting cast needs to be healthy and properly step up to support their emerging star in getting back to that stage.