BBNBA: Tyrese Maxey scores 30, Anthony Davis exits early with eye injury
Yes, it happened against the Charlotte Hornets — 13th in the Eastern Conference and losers of eight of its last 10 games coming into Saturday — but Tyrese Maxey put on a show in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 109-98 win.
The former Kentucky point guard turned frontrunner for Most Improved Player in year four as a pro dropped 30 points, three rebounds, and four assists for the Sixers, which was without reigning MVP Joel Embiid, who has been sidelined since Jan. 30 with a knee injury.
This marked Maxey’s 19th game this season with at least 30 points. In 16 games since Embiid went out, Maxey is averaging 26.9 points, four rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 36.8 minutes per game on shooting splits of 45.1/40.7/88.1.
Philly was also without third-leading scorer Tobias Harris (ankle), but none of that bothered Maxey and the bloody noise he received in the second quarter off a Brandon Miller flagrant foul, which resulted in Miller being ejected
“I’m all right,” Maxey said postgame. “I tell everyone that I’m a soldier, so it is what it is. But I’m going to take UFC lessons, though.”
Maxey wasn’t the only one-time ‘Cat to receive a blow to the head on Saturday though.
Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers was hit in the eye during the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors. The contact from Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis was inadvertent, but Davis’ left eye closed not long after the incident. Davis attempted to play on, but eventually, his vision was so impaired he had to leave the game and ultimately did not return.
Davis still finished with eight points, four rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal in his 12 minutes of action before heading to the locker room for good. The Lakers would go on to lose 128-121 in a game that swapped the two teams in the Western Conference standings. Los Angeles is now the 10th seed while Golden State is the 9th seed — the final two Play-In Tournament spots.
Despite being healthier this season (64 games played out of a possible 68) than he has since the 2017-18 campaign, when he played a career-best 75 games, Davis couldn’t avoid this injury. Hopefully, it won’t keep him off the floor for long as the Lakers look to move out of the 9/10 seed spot and into the 7/8.
Other BBNBA notes
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went for 20 points, seven rebounds, and three assists in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 118-112 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Cason Wallace added four points, two rebounds, four assists, and three steals for OKC. On the other end, Wenyen Gabriel, playing in just his fifth game for the Grizzlies, chipped in two points and four rebounds in 14 minutes.
- De’Aaron Fox (20) and Malik Monk (18) combined to score 38 points for the Sacramento Kings, although it came in a 98-91 loss to the Julius Randle-less New York Knicks. Fox shot just 5-19 from the field (2-7 3PT) but did manage seven rebounds and nine dimes in 36 minutes. Monk shot 6-14 overall (3-9 3PT) while adding three rebounds and four assists in his 28 minutes of action. Trey Lyles missed his second straight game for the Kings with a knee injury while Randle has been sidelined for the Knicks with a shoulder issue since late January.
- Nick Richards recorded 11 points and 11 rebounds in Charlotte’s loss to Philly, his 17th double-double of the season.
- After playing a season-high 25 minutes on Friday against the Atlanta Hawks, Utah Jazz guard Johnny Juzang saw 21 minutes on Saturday in Utah’s 119-100 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Juzang contributed eight points and four rebounds on 3-5 shooting.
3/16/24 statistics
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | +/- | MIN |
| Tyrese Maxey (PHI) | 109-98 W vs. CHA | 30 | 8-20 (3-9) | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 40 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) | 118-112 W @ MEM | 20 | 8-16 (1-4) | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 35 |
| De’Aaron Fox (SAC) | 98-91 L vs. NYK | 20 | 5-19 (2-7) | 7 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 36 |
| Malik Monk (SAC) | 98-91 L vs. NYK | 18 | 6-14 (3-9) | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 28 |
| Nick Richards (CHA) | 109-98 L @ PHI | 11 | 4-5 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 29 |
| Anthony Davis (LAL) | 128-121 L vs. GSW | 8 | 3-6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| Johnny Juzang (UTA) | 119-100 L vs. MIN | 8 | 3-5 (2-3) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 21 |
| Isaiah Jackson (IND) | 121-100 W vs. BKN | 4 | 2-2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Cason Wallace (OKC) | 118-112 W @ MEM | 4 | 2-5 (0-3) | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| Wenyen Gabriel | 118-112 L vs. OKC | 2 | 1-4 (0-1) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -12 | 14 |
| Julius Randle (NYK) | 98-91 W @ SAC | DNP-Shoulder | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) | 119-100 W @ UTA | DNP-Knee | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Trey Lyles (SAC) | 98-91 L vs. NYK | DNP-Knee | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Oscar Tshiebwe (IND) | 121-100 W vs. BKN | DNP-G League | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Olivier Sarr (OKC) | 118-112 W @ MEM | DNP-G League | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jarred Vanderbilt (LAL) | 128-121 L vs. GSW | DNP-Foot | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Shaedon Sharpe (POR) | 126-107 L @ NOP | DNP-Abdominal | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Tonight in the NBA
- 1:00 (ABC) | Suns (Booker) @ Bucks (Livingston: Out, TyTy Washington: G League)
- 3:00 | Heat (Adebayo, Herro: Out) @ Pistons
- 3:30 (ABC) | Nuggets (Murray) @ Mavericks (PJ Washington)
- 6:00 | Celtics @ Wizards
- 6:00 | Raptors (Quickeley) @ Magic
- 7:00 (NBA TV) | Nets @ Spurs (Johnson)
- 9:30 (NBA TV) | Hawks @ Clippers (Boston)
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