with his victory this Thursday over Portland Trail Blazers by 105-95los Philadelphia 76ers they added their fourth win in a rowall of them as visitors for the Western Conference and tied the Milwaukee Bucks with the second best record in the East: 29 wins, 16 losses.
But beyond the results, It is the game that makes the Sixers excited, who are showing, by far, their best image of 2022-2023. And all from a change proposed by Doc Rivers, as risky as it has a positive impact: remove Tyrese Maxey from the starting five and use him as a sixth man.
The Maxey Float.™️ pic.twitter.com/ypoh1mDTBQ
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 20, 2023
For the third game in a row, Maxey came out in Portland as a substitute, with De’Anthony Melton starting in his place along with Harden, Harris, Tucker and Embiid. The reason is clear: break a Maxey-Harden duo that gave enormous defensive advantages and with which it was going to be very difficult to compete on an equal footing with the best teams in the league.
A 133-114 loss at home to OKCin which Shai Gilgeous-Alexander cooked the Philadelphia guards time and time again, he seemed to finish convincing Rivers to make that change. Logical, although risky if we take into account that it was take ownership away from a player like Maxey, who is on the riseaveraging over 20 points and with a possible All-Star future.
However, it seems to have been a big gamble, with an even bigger payoff. The new scheme has given it a balance ideal a los 76erswho with Melton together with the headlines, manage to build one of the best defenses in the league.
Even without counting the dominant performance this Thursday in Portland, where they barely allowed the Blazers 6 points until Rivers began to move the bench with 5:20 left in the first quarterMelton’s lineups alongside the starters allow for an excellent defensive rating of just 111.2 points per 100 possessions.
looking like @JalenHurts ➡️ @1kalwaysopen_ 👀 pic.twitter.com/OgGmj8V5po
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 20, 2023
Of course, the other part of the equation was to see how Maxey was adjusting to his new role as sixth man (for the one who looks like an ideal player). And the truth is that his has been excellent: he has 53 points in 90 minutes between the three parties, with a 20-37 field (54%). And perhaps more important, a differential of +21 in those sections.
With this new scheme, everything seems to be balanced Philadelphia, with no major flaws in any area. It is a strong team in defense, with unbalancing players in attack like Harden and Embiid and with points in the second unit from a specialist scorer like Maxey.
There’s a long way to go, but for the first time in a long time, the Sixers make sense. As much as starting to name them within the squad that can get excited about the biggest objectives of this campaign.
The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA or its organizations.
