Sixers Bell Ringer: Maxey masterclass helps Sixers outlast Pacers

Bell Ringer Season Totals:

Tyrese Maxey - 4

Joel Embiid - 2

Tobias Harris - 1

Kelly Oubre Jr. - 1

On the back of a career night for Tyrese Maxey, the Philadelphia 76ers outlasted the Indiana Pacers for a 137-126 victory and their eighth win in a row.

Nico Batum was slotted into the starting lineup tonight for the Sixers after Kelly Oubre Jr. suffered a fractured rib when he was struck by a motor vehicle as a pedestrian on Saturday. He will be re-evaluated in a week.

The Sixers must not have loved the sleepy start that plagued them on Friday, because they got right to work Sunday. The two-man game of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey combined for 27 of the Sixers’ 38 first-period points as they leapt out to an early double-digit lead. Maxey took hold of the game in the second with 17 points in the frame, but a 14-2 Pacers run with a few minutes left in the half pulled Indiana back into contention. Philadelphia brought a 69-60 lead into the break.

The Pacers quickly chipped away at the Sixers’ lead in the third and finally snagged their first lead of the night early in the fourth, but Philadelphia bit right back. A 10-2 run in the fourth put the Sixers back on top. They extended their lead on the back of a Maxey career-high 50-bomb and held on to defeat the Pacers 137-126.

Yeah, a 50-bomb for Maxey. 20 for 32 field goal shooting. Seven triples.

The Sixers return to In-Season Tournament action on Tuesday night with a rematch against the Indiana Pacers in South Philadelphia.

Until then, let’s get to the Bell Ringer. Take a quick guess.

Tyrese Maxey: 50 points (20-of-32 FG), 7 triples, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

That’s it. That’s your Bell Ringer.

Maxey went right to work in the two-man action with Embiid. The Sixers basically spammed the Maxey-Embiid pick-and-roll right out of the gate and kept it going frankly because it just kept working. The Pacers seemed to have no answer for it.

Even more impressive is what Maxey continues to do for the Sixers during the Embiid-less minutes: controlling the offense, using his speed to charge downhill at the rim, taking his opportunities for shots from long range and making difficult shots look easy. Nick Nurse has hammered home that he wants Maxey to be aggressive. Well, he is, and it’s paying off. After a 17-point second frame, Maxey entered the halftime break with 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting (4-for-7 triples). Oh, he also put up this block on Tyrese Haliburton on a fast break:

Maxey just was doing it all tonight, perfectly encapsulated by a third period block on Bennedict Mathurin, scooped for a full-court race to the rim and finish. He put up nine points in the third as the Sixers desperately clung to a slim advantage. In the fourth, in addition to scoring 14 points, the 6-foot-2 guard put up his third block of the night, chasing down Buddy Hield.

Maxey was absolutely feeling it tonight. You could tell when he capped his night off with this monster triple.

There was just no stopping him. Maxey finished this one with a career-high 50 points on 20-for-32 shooting, with seven triples, in addition to seven rebounds, five assists and those three highlight-worthy blocks.

SHOUTOUTS

Joel Embiid

Embiid worked in tandem with Maxey in the pick-and-roll game to get going from the tip and basically went right to work cooking Myles Turner. The big man had 14 points and three rebounds in his first five minutes on the floor with Turner on him. Field goal shooting has not exactly been Embiid’s most consistent stat to start this season (probably partially due to about four to six arms swatting at him every time he shoots), but he took advantage of the mismatch and was sinking buckets early and often in this one. In his 19-point first period, Embiid shot 6-for-8 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the line. He led the floor at the halftime break with 26 points on 72.7 percent field goal shooting.

His shooting got a little more erratic as the Pacers began to double-team Embiid more, but he continued to stay aggressive and earn trips to the line in those cases and kept bullying Turner when they opted to use him defensively. Though it became overshadowed by the career night for Maxey, Embiid still finished this one with 37 points (12-of-26 from the floor, 12-for-14 from the line), 13 rebounds, seven assists, a steal and a block on Sunday.

Paul Reed

Bball Paul might not get the longest stints on the floor but he certainly makes the most of them. In his second period minutes, Reed seemed to be in tune with Maxey, working the pick-and-roll with him and helping Maxey to some looks for triples (that Maxey couldn’t seem to stop sinking tonight). In 6:40 on the floor in the first half, Reed tallied four points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Nico Batum

Batum started for the first time as a Sixer in place of Oubre and immediately made a huge defensive impact with two steals and a block in the first frame. In the third, Batum sank his second and third threes of the game as the Sixers were desperately clinging to a narrow lead. He also contributes greatly to something the Sixers were severely lacking last season: rebounding. Batum pulled in seven on Sunday night, five coming on the defensive end.

De’Anthony Melton

Melton has been struggling to start this season, but tonight was a nice bright spot. He was making plays for his teammates and starting to get into a groove with his shooting. Melton also came up clutch in the third with back-to-back buckets (a triple and a long two) to help the Sixers extend their lead back towards double-digits. He finished this one with 10 points (one triple), three rebounds and six assists.

Tobias Harris

Harris got off to a bit of a slow start in this one but he started to come alive in the second half crucially as the Sixers were trying to hold on to their lead. After scoring just four points on 2-for-8 field goal shooting in the first half, Harris shot 7-for-12 in the second tacking on 14 points in the third and fourth frames. In addition to his 18 total points, Harris finished with nine rebounds and four assists.