BBNBA: Tyrese Maxey, De'Aaron Fox Will Teams to Game 2 Victories
The “Kentucky runs the NBA” theme continued on Monday night.
We start with Tyrese Maxey, who led the Sixers in scoring in their 96-84 Game 2 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Maxey scored 33 of Philly’s 96 points (34%) for his second career 30-plus point playoff outing. Maxey joined “The Answer” Allen Iverson (also 2x) as the only 76ers player with multiple 30-point, five 3pt FG games in the playoffs. Phenomenal company.
Maxey’s performance was huge, as former MVP James Harden had a brutal showing. After knocking down seven threes in Philly’s Game 1 win, he was just 3-13 with eight points in Game 2. Just as he has all season, Maxey stepped up to be Joel Embiid’s partner in crime when needed most.
“I just wanna win, man…” Maxey said after his performance. “We knew this was an important game. [P.J. Tucker] said as soon as we won Game 1, that Game 2 was going to be the hardest game. We wanted to protect home court.”
Protect home court he did.
Maxey shared an awesome moment with John Calipari after the game. Performances like this just make you grieve over the lost NCAA Tournament run with Maxey, Immanuel Quickley, and Nick Richards. La Familia runs deep.
De’Aaron Fox Takes Over Fourth Quarter, Leads Kings to First 2-0 Series Lead Since 2004
“Mr. Clutch” did it again. The likely first-ever NBA Clutch Player of the Year De’Aaron Fox scored 11 fourth-quarter points to propel the scrappy Kings to their first 2-0 series lead since 2004. The defending NBA champions are in trouble.
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Fox finished with 24 points on the night, nine assists, and five rebounds. He also finished with a playoff career-high four steals (it’s only been two games, but still). Malik Monk continued his stellar play off the bench, scoring 18 points while knocking down three three-pointers. Trey Lyles contributed as well, grabbing four rebounds although he failed to score.
De’Aaron leads the NBA in clutch points this season with 194, 35 more than second-place DeMar DeRozan. With 2:24 remaining left in the game, Fox hit a dagger three to put the game away. In the first two games of the series, Fox has a combined 26 fourth-quarter points. Just go ahead and give him the award.
Sacramento will now travel an hour and a half north to the Chase Center for Games 3 and 4. If the Kings can manage to win two of the next five games, it will be their first playoff series win since 2004.
BBNBA Stats:
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | MIN | +/- |
| Tyrese Maxey (PHI) | 96-84 W vs BKN | 33 | 13-23 (6-13) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 | +17 |
| De’Aaron Fox (SAC) | 114-106 W vs GSW | 24 | 10-23 (2-10) | 5 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 36 | +1 |
| Malik Monk (SAC) | 114-106 W vs GSW | 18 | 6-15 (3-7) | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 31 | +5 |
| Trey Lyles (SAC) | 114-106 W vs GSW | 0 | 0-2 (0-2) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | +2 |
Tonight in the NBA:
7:00 (NBA TV): No. 8 Hawks @ No. 1 Celtics [BOS leads 1-0]
7:30 (TNT): No. 5 Knicks (Quickley, Randle) @ No. 4 Cavaliers [NYK leads 1-0]
10:00 (TNT): No. 6 Clippers (Boston Jr.) @ No. 4 Suns (Booker) [LAC leads 1-0]
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