Tyrese Maxey drops a 50 burger, continues to have all of Philadelphia ecstatic that James Harden is gone

Tyrese Maxey going for 50 facets, as he did in a Sixers win over the Pacers on Sunday, would have Philly enthusiasts sparkling beneath any cases. But when Maxey places on that type of display at the identical day that James Harden drops every other stinker, it is all the extra sweeter. 

We all know Daryl Morey sought after to play laborious ball with Harden, and to a point he did, however getting rid of him, even prior to you think about all that he were given in go back, has confirmed to be an addition-by-subtraction house run. It’s allowed Maxey the total freedom to take over this Sixers workforce, which is now 8-1 because the No. 1 seed within the East.

Harden’s Clippers, in the meantime, are 0-5 because the business, and 0-4 with Harden in uniform. On Sunday, Harden had 11 facets on 12 photographs, together with 1-of-7 from 3-point land, and the Clippers misplaced the mins he performed by means of 28 whilst successful the mins he did not play by means of 24. 

That’s in step with the drag the Harden device has been on a workforce that was once rolling prior to they added him. Through 4 video games, the Clippers have misplaced Harden’s mins by means of a cool 67 facets. In all different mins this season, they have outscored their fighters by means of 85 facets.

Look on the points-per-possession numbers:

Sixers enthusiasts — hell, even the Sixers’ exact avid gamers — have to be ecstatic taking a look at the ones numbers as they have a good time in what Maxey is doing. He’s been the juice in the back of trainer Nick Nurse’s offense — an offense that appears to be like find it irresistible’s on rapid ahead when compared to the paint-drying slog Doc Rivers was once operating with Harden. 

In the wake of Harden complaining that the Sixers put him on a leash, and Joel Embiid rightly, if reasonably diplomatically, firing again that they if truth be told “gave him the ball every possession,” it does now not strike me as a accident that Embiid referred to as Maxey “The Franchise” on social media.

My bet is Embiid was once most commonly sending that message to Maxey, however it is laborious for me to imagine it wasn’t simply a little bit aimed toward Harden as neatly. Everything Harden favored to suppose he was once for the Sixers, Maxey if truth be told is. Hell, Embiid scored 37 facets on Sunday, too. That’s 87 between the duo. 

That’s now not going to occur each and every sport, clearly, however the truth is Maxey can also be, and is being, utilized in many extra tactics than Harden ever may. He’s sooner. He’s a higher shooter. He strikes extra. The just right vibes he brings are in direct distinction to the miserable Harden enjoy, and the 76ers are feeling like a wholly other workforce as a result of of it. 

“Usually me in the mornings, I don’t mess around. But [with Maxey], you can come in at seven in the morning, smiling, I’m like, ‘Dude you just woke up,'” Embiid mentioned of his infectiously upbeat teammate.  “That’s always the same energy. It doesn’t change. … It changes everything, it sets the tone.”

Yes, Harden and Embiid had been a terrorizing two-man tandem, however the web acquire of such a methodical tempo and the relative alienation of all the opposite guys at the flooring by no means proved to be well worth the Harden worth. 

Maxey is doing his factor along his teammates, now not on the expense of them. Everyone in Philly was once beautiful satisfied to land Harden if best in order that they might be accomplished with the Ben Simmons saga. Well, the similar is true with Maxey, who would really feel like a straight-up oxygen tank for a suffocating franchise, despite the fact that he wasn’t taking part in like a reliable MVP candidate. 

It simply so occurs that he is. Maxey is averaging slightly below 29 facets a sport on 50/43/93 capturing splits. He made 20 of his 32 photographs on Sunday, together with seven of 11 3-pointers. In addition to this 50 spot being a occupation top, it additionally is going down because the highest-scoring sport for a Sixers participant since Allen Iverson submit 53 towards the Hawks just about 20 years in the past. 

Maxey is not a nice defender, however he can also be beautiful helpful; he looks as if Jrue Holiday when compared to Harden. And that’s the prism by which the Sixers, and their enthusiasts, have to be taking a look at Maxey presently. It’s extra than simply what he is doing for them; it is what James Harden is not doing. 

Or, checked out differently, what Harden is doing for the Clippers, who drank the similar toxic Harden Kool-Aid the Sixers drank a few years in the past. Sure, it is early, however those indicators have been right here for a whilst now. Harden is a drag, and Maxey is truly just right. It’s now not one thing that popped up out of nowhere, in both case. 

If Harden thinks he is satisfied to be out of Philly, he ought to test in with a few Philly enthusiasts. They cannot wipe the smile off their faces. And everybody within the basketball global now not named James Harden understands why.