BBNBA: Maxey shines as Sixers and Clippers win

What a fantastic night of NBA hoops last night; plus, a certain UK guard shined out in his team’s Game 6 victory.

Check it out.

RECAP

Maxey comes up big in Game 6 win

The Philadelphia 76ers forced a Game 7 last night with a win in Miami. Heading into the game they were down 3-2 and coming off a miserable Game 5 loss at home where they blew a 26-point lead, but responded on the road to extend their playoff hopes.

Kentucky rookie Tyrese Maxey helped swing the game too. Starting Sixers guard Danny Green has been sidelined with injury, which meant more minutes for Maxey. He’s played inconsistent minutes off the bench so far but yesterday was his best game yet of the postseason.

He played rotation-level minutes last night in lieu of Green and thrived on both sides, helping guard Trae Young about as good as a team can while providing some speed and scoring on offense.

Philly controlled the game, as they have in most of the games in the series and again allowed a double-digit lead to slip late in the game. Atlanta cut the lead to three in the early stages of the fourth but Maxey came through with a huge three to get the lead back to six.

https://t.co/OUqIeDZFl0 pic.twitter.com/7kmDMe814B

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) June 19, 2021

On the next Sixers possession, Maxey cashed in again from behind the line to put Philly up by 9 — but then came the whistles on Ben Simmons.

During the Maxey three, Simmons got called for a loose ball foul, but upon review, it was deemed as occurring before the shot, wiping out the Maxey triple.

Trae Young strolled down the court and promptly hit a three to cut what had briefly been a nine-point lead all the way down to three. Then, Hack-a-Simmons was deployed. On consecutive 76ers possessions, Atlanta fouled Ben Simmons (roughly a 30% free throw shooter in the playoffs). He made two of the four free throws before Doc Rivers yanked him on offensive possessions, only subbing him in on defense.

Atlanta never could take control but got the game to one point at 94-93 following a Trae Young three. Philly pushed the lead out again from there and Maxey hit a trio of free throws in the final minute to pad the lead for Philadelphia to secure Game 6.

Take a look at his highlights via the official 76ers Twitter account.

16 PTS | 7 REB

What a way to earn your name, young fella.

📹⤵️ pic.twitter.com/UCd80big8M

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) June 19, 2021

These two will play Game 7 on Sunday night at 8 p.m.

Terrance Mann leads Clippers over Jazz in Game 6

The Western Conference Playoffs are set. Phoenix has been idly awaiting their opponent for about a week since vanquishing the Nuggets in a four-game sweep and now they have one in the LA Clippers. They already discarded the other LA team, and now face a Clippers team, that, like the Lakers, is dealing with injuries to star players.

Kawhi Leonard has missed back-to-back games with an ACL-related injury and his status moving forward is up in the air. But so is that of Chris Paul, who is ruled out due to health and safety protocols at the moment, and when will be able to rejoin his Suns is unclear. A bummer, man.

That’s why last night’s win over Utah was so impressive. They didn’t have their leading scorer and best player. This Clippers team (and chiefly, Paul George) may not have earned or deserved respect before this postseason, but after the last two games, they’ve earned at least a tip of the cap.

Utah had no excuse to lose first in their home arena, but then, a second time in a row to a Clippers team without Kawhi. LAC, on the other hand, had no reason to win. Their roster isn’t deep when healthy, much less with Leonard and Serge Ibaka sidelined.

Also, in Game 6, they came back from a 25-point deficit and basically all in one quarter. Early in the third, Donovan Mitchell sent a deep, double-contested three down the pipe to give Utah a 25-point lead. By the end of the quarter, the game was virtually tied and second-year Florida State guard Terance Mann scored 20 points in a nine-minute span!

Mann finished with a stat line to cackle at. 39 points, 15-21 from the field, 7-10 from three. Absolutely unbelievable from a virtually unknown player two months ago. Oh, and who was his primary defender? Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, who took six shots and let his Mann for 39 in an elimination game. Yikes.

As for the Kentucky guys in this incredible contest? Rajon Rondo was the only ‘Cat to enter the game and he played a brief seven minutes, scored one bucket and then sat back on the bench as Terance Mann rightfully stole the rest of his minutes.

Phoenix and Los Angeles will start the West Finals on Sunday at 3:30 on ABC.

Today in the NBA

8:30: Game 7: Bucks @ Nets