The Top 7 Tyrese Maxey Moments of 2022
No player capitalized on opportunity quite like Tyrese Maxey in 2022. With Ben Simmons MIA (and ultimately traded), Maxey found himself starting at point guard for a championship-contending team in just his second year as a pro. Rather than wilt under the pressure that comes with playing in Philadelphia, he embraced the challenge and flourished.
The Sixers’ season was cut short two weeks ago, with Joel Embiid’s injury troubles and James Harden’s inconsistency proving too much to overcome against the Miami Heat. But the loss was no fault of Maxey’s; he showed out yet again in the Playoffs, carrying the Sixers on multiple occasions. In April, he finished sixth overall in the NBA’s Most Improved Player voting.
The future is glimmering for Philly’s ebullient young star. But before we go day-dreaming about what’s next, let’s look back at his best moments from the season that was.
No. 7: Hanging 31 on the Champs
The first statement performance of Maxey’s sophomore campaign came against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in November. With Embiid, Tobias Harris and Seth Curry all sitting, the weight fell on his shoulders to get buckets — and facing an elite defender in Jrue Holiday, no less. But he got hot early and kept it going, scoring 17 first-quarter points and finishing with 31. He nailed a career-high four triples, an early sign of his greatly-improved jumpshot:
Unfortunately, Giannis Antetokounmpo & co. proved too much for Maxey to handle all by his lonesome. After he gave his team a late lead with a running floater, the Bucks responded with a 17-7 run to win the game. Still, he raised plenty of eyebrows with this performance.
6. Harden 2.0 downs Knicks
Following the Simmons-for-Harden trade in February, many speculated if Maxey’s ball-handling days (and feature opportunities on offense) were behind him. Those speculations lasted all of a week. In his third game sharing the court with Harden, Maxey dropped a cool 25 on 4-6 shooting from deep to lead the new-look Sixers to victory against the Knicks.
He even mixed in a classic Harden move to make his new teammate feel at home — much to the dismay of an old one, Immanuel Quickley, who had the misfortune of guarding him.
Not much you can do about that one, Q. The kid’s a quick learner.
5. Making it Rain in Indy
Remember that “greatly-improved jumpshot” I mentioned? Yeah, turns out that was for real. After topping two made threes in a game just twice his whole rookie season, Maxey did it 18 times in 2021-22. The peak came in late January, when he knocked down an astounding eight triples in a win over the Pacers. Check out these crazy highlights:
For the season as a whole, Maxey shot nearly 43% from deep — third in the entire NBA. That is, as the kids say, wet.
4. End-to-end coverage beats Heat in Playoffs
Heading into their critical Game 3 matchup in Philadelphia, Maxey’s Sixers were staring down an unforgiving 2-0 whole in the conference semifinals. Lose this one, and you might as well put away that travel bag. Our guy had put up a monster 34-point effort in Game 2, but the Heat prevailed regardless. And although they had Embiid back now, things were looking shaky early; Maxey was held scoreless in the first half, prompting Harden to tell him he “needs to wake up.”
Wake up, he did. Maxey scored all 21 of his points in the second half, including some big ones down the stretch to keep the series alive:
He also made this incredible hustle play, which we’re still trying to figure out:
The Heat may have won in the end, but it would have been a lot less interesting without Maxey’s intervention.
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3. Out-gunning the Grizzlies in OT
One of the Sixers’ most impressive regular-season wins came in January, when they outlasted the Memphis Grizzlies in overtime. They did so thanks to a season-high 33 points by Maxey, including a team-high six in the extra period. He scored the go-ahead bucket in blowby fashion:
He followed that up with another bucket to put the nail in the coffin. The Sixers overcame 37 points from Ja Morant and no Joel Embiid to earn the victory.
2. “Maxey Mania” too much for Miami
It’s a known fact that Tyrese Maxey is impossible to hate. But one of the first times it became apparent just how much the internet loved him came late in March, when he went off for 28 in a narrow win over the Heat. He made all kinds of ice-cold plays down the stretch, including this step-back dagger over Tyler Herro:
But the most memorable moment from this one came a minute later, when he hustled down the floor to deny a Martin twin at the rim, effectively ending the game. Give it another watch, if you haven’t recently:
Has there ever been a man who loved committing ‘Cat-on-‘Cat crime more than this guy?
1. The Playoff Special
There were many contenders, but only one winner: the best Tyrese Maxey moment of 2022 came on the 16th of April, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. The poor, unsuspecting Raptors spent all that time game-planning for Embiid and Harden… only to get handed a 38-piece by the point guard. Don’t you hate when that happens?
He truly could do no wrong on this day:
At just 21 years old, Maxey became the youngest Sixer ever to record a 30-point game in the Playoffs. Afterward, coach Doc Rivers said this: “He just doesn’t play with anxiety. That’s why you love him. There are certain players like that. There’s not a lot that ruffles him.”
Indeed, no moment is too large for Mad Maxey — that much is clear already. Here’s hoping next years are even bigger.
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