BBNBA: Tyrese Maxey staunchly a part of the 'Big Three'
A theme tossed around the NBA every so often is that when you find a quintessential ‘Big Three,’ they become villains. Tyrese Maxey by proxy and basketball acumen alone may become one in the national spotlight.
76ers, Tyrese Maxey roll by floundering Knicks
Putting these two teams, in their current forms, on a national TV Sunday matinee is near torture. James Harden looks like himself again for the Philadelphia 76ers, playing iso-ball while still racking up 16 assists on the afternoon. Joel Embiid, one of the best in the business, is now joined by another foul merchant that will help boost his stats to ungodly numbers. The center had 37 points on 18 shots and 27 — yes, 27 — free throws in the 125-109 win over the New York Knicks
A big worry when the blockbuster trade went down was whether it would cut Maxey out of meaningful touches. He had just been coming into his own and playing at a near All-Star level. If a few games show us anything, Maxey is still going to get his buckets. After dropping 28 a few nights ago, Maxey poured in 21 points on 8-14 shooting yesterday. The young guard is working perfectly into James Harden’s system of maxing out his assist numbers. Harden will run his iso ball system, but if Maxey is option number one for when he kicks out, we can live with that.
On the Kentucky Knicks side of things… it’s still not going great. Julius Randle has slowly accepted his role as becoming the number two option on this team behind RJ Barrett. Yesterday, Randle had 16 points and 10 rebounds on 4-13 shooting. Immanuel Quickley dropped 21 points in 26 minutes off the bench, Nerlens Noel did not play.
Devin Booker’s 30 not enough against the Jazz
The Suns failed to reach the half-century mark in the win column yesterday with a 118-114 loss to Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz. As a team, they shot pretty decently — every starter shot at least 50% on at least seven shots. The Suns were efficient and finished with 114, which usually should be enough to get the win.
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Devin Booker played 40 minutes and poured in 30 points on 12-24 shooting from the field. He also added seven rebounds, assists and a couple of steals. It was a typical night for Booker, minus the win at the end.
Boogie nights in Portland
It seems like the secret to success in Mile High is having DeMarcus Cousins on the team. The Nuggets just simply refuse to lose with the man on the roster. I don’t blame them.
Cousins has been used in a very limited role, understandably, as the Nuggets already have a rotation that they feel comfortable with. Cousins has been consistently getting into games, he just hasn’t been in there for long. Tonight though, he kind of played Mike Malone’s card and made him stay in.
The big man finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists in only 18 minutes of action off the bench. Cousins was 7-10 from the field with a 2-3 mark from deep. It was by far his most productive game in Denver so far. Less important than the pure scoring numbers, Cousins turned back the clock a little with his ability to be a playmaker this game. I’m not sure how often we’re going to see these performances from Boogie this season, so let’s enjoy this one.
Statistics
| Player | Results | Points | FG (3PA) | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | Turnovers | Minutes | +/- |
| Devin Booker (PHX) | 118-114 L vs. UTA | 30 | 12-24 (4-8) | 7 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 40 | -6 |
| Tyrese Maxey (PHI) | 125-109 W @ NYK | 21 | 8-14 (3-5) | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 23 |
| Immanuel Quickley (NYK) | 125-109 L vs. PHI | 21 | 5-13 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 26 | -6 |
| DeMarcus Cousins (DEN) | 124-92 W vs. POR | 19 | 7-10 (2-3) | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 27 |
| Julius Randle (NYK) | 125-109 L vs. PHI | 16 | 4-13 (1-4) | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 38 | -12 |
| Hamidou Diallo (DET) | 127-126 OT W @ CHA | 13 | 6-13 (0-2) | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 25 | -2 |
| Isaiah Jackson (IND) | 128-107 W vs. BOS | 11 | 5-6 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 4 |
| P.J. Washington (CHA) | 127-126 OT L vs. DET | 10 | 5-9 (0-2) | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 32 | 6 |
| Malik Monk (LAL) | 123-95 L vs. NOP | 0 | 0-5 (0-2) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 24 | -4 |
| B.J. Boston (LAC) | 99-98 W @ HOU | 0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -10 |
| Nerlens Noel (NYK) | 125-109 L vs. PHI | DNP- Coach’s Decision | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Nick Richards (CHA) | 127-126 OT L vs. DET | DNP- Foot | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Anthony Davis (LAL) | 123-95 L vs. NOP | DNP- Foot | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Today in the NBA
7:00 p.m. Pacers (Jackson) @ Magic
7:00 p.m. Timberwolves (Towns, Vanderbilt) @ Cavaliers (Rondo)
7:30 p.m. Bulls @ Heat (Adebayo, Herro)
7:30 p.m. Nets @ Raptors
8:00 p.m. (NBA TV) Hornets (Richards, Washington) @ Bucks
8:00 p.m. Kings (Fox, Lyles) @ Thunder (Gilgeous-Alexander)
8:00 p.m. Spurs (Johnson) @ Grizzlies
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