Elevated Play of Maxey, Harris Key Reasons Behind Sixers’ Hot Start in Playoffs

By Matt Gregan, Sports Talk Philly Staff Writer

The Philadelphia 76ers are riding high through the first two games of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals matchup with the Toronto Raptors. They have a 2-0 series lead, although it did not come the way most expected.

Joel Embiid is doing his thing and taking up a ton of attention from the Raptors' defense. James Harden is not playing well as a scorer but is generally doing a good job running the offense as more of a traditional point guard. The pair of players leading the way for the Sixers, who as a team are averaging 121.5 points while shooting 51.6 percent from the field in the first two games of the series, have been Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris.

Maxey carried the Sixers in Game 1 with a dominating performance in which he scored 38 points and scored from anywhere he wanted on the court.

🎥 roll the tape! @tyresemaxey's final line: 38 PTS / 14-21 FG / 5-8 3FG / 5-5 FT pic.twitter.com/C4MCWTaZoq

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 17, 2022

His development and maturation throughout this season and into the playoffs has been special to watch. After leading all scorers in Game 1, he followed it up with a near triple-double in Game 2, going for 23 points (8-of-11 shooting), nine rebounds and eight assists. He has proven to be unafraid of the moment, stepping up in key moments on multiple occasions throughout the last two games. In Game 2, with the Raptors on a 15-2 run and the Sixers' lead dwindling down to 11 points, he knocked down a pull-up three in transition to end Toronto's run and increase the lead back to 14 points.

Maxey has risen to become a bonafide second scoring option for the Sixers, and it is opening up a new style and prioritization in the Sixers' offense. When the team acquired Harden in a blockbuster trade at this season's trade deadline, it was expected Harden would step into and excel as the No. 2 option behind Embiid. With the exception of a few games here and there, that has not been the case. However, the Sixers are adjusting and have not missed a beat so far in the playoffs despite Harden averaging just 18.0 points on 34.6 percent shooting from the field through the first two games against the Raptors. Maxey's performance has taken a lot of the pressure off of Harden, allowing him to function more as a point guard and less as a guy who has to score 20-to-25 points per game in the playoffs for his team to have any sort of success.

In addition to Maxey's great play in the playoffs, Harris also continued to step up for the Sixers. He is the player who had to make the most adjustments to make everything work after the Harden addition to the roster. He became the team's fourth scoring option and went from playing more of an on-ball role to more of a catch-and-shoot, off-ball role. It took him some time to adjust and settle into his new role, but over the last month and a half he has been playing with much more confidence and efficiency.

He talked after the Game 2 win over the Raptors on Monday night about how a simple conversation with head coach Doc Rivers helped him understand his new role:

I think the biggest adjustment for me is when we actually sat down and talked and just had a real conversation. And he told me what he envisions me doing and how I could do it at a very high level to help the group. From there, I was basically at peace with that and kind of never looked back from that time. I understand keeping the group as a whole together, making sure everybody in the right spirit and mind is big for us as a team, especially toward this run we're trying to go on … I talked to him before, this is like the first time in my career that catch and shoot was like an emphasis for me. Whereas in past years prior, it was more, I'd catch the ball, isolate, wait, hold. It was just evaluating how the be more efficient in the role. That was a big emphasis from the All-Star break, was catching that ball and shooting quick. For me, that was an adjustment, but there's a lot of extra hours in the gym and hard work of adjusting to it, being able to let it fly. For me, I'm in a great rhythm, great groove right now.

He is playing with a ton of confidence and is a major reason why the Sixers are up 2-0 in the series against the Raptors. In the first two games of the series, he is averaging 23.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks while shooting the ball an insanely efficient 64.0 percent from the field and 75.0 percent from beyond the arc.

While the efficiency obviously will not stay that high, the more long-lasting impact of his play both so far in this series and over the past month or so is his decision making and clear comfortableness in his new role on the Sixers. He is making quick decisions and pulling the trigger on catch-and-shoot threes in a manner simply not seen from him earlier this season.

Harden with a sweet dish to Tobias for the triple 👀 pic.twitter.com/GXmCkQFjYr

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 19, 2022

He is also doing a good job attacking closeouts, mixing things up with a combination of mid-range pull-ups and drives to the basket. The Raptors tallest players are 6-foot-9 and Harris has taken advantage multiple times of having a smaller defender on him by getting deep post position and sealing his defender off from the ball.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing from Harris' performance thus far in the playoffs has been his defensive effort. He has been active defensively, doing a solid job of being one of the primary defenders on Raptors' star Pascal Siakam.

He has become the ultimate glue guy for the Sixers. He is doing a bit of everything from scoring efficiently, being a leader in the locker room and stepping up defensively. It is hard to ignore the fact he is getting paid like a max player (an average of $36 million per year throughout his current contract), but if he can consistently play the way he has lately the Sixers will be in good shape going forward.

Everything has gone well for the Sixers through the first two games of this series. However, there is still plenty of time for adjustments for both sides. The Raptors up to this point in the series have utilized a defensive strategy centered around clogging the paint to stop Embiid while betting on the Sixers' supporting cast not being able to beat them. Through two games, Maxey and Harris have played major roles in helping the Sixers to a 2-0 series lead. Will Raptors' head coach Nick Nurse change up their defensive strategy for the remainder of the series? The series moves up to Toronto with Game 3 set to be tonight at 8 p.m.