James Harden Praises Tyrese Maxey for Rallying Sixers vs. Cavaliers on Friday

The Philadelphia 76ers found themselves in a hole early on Friday night. As they hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were out for revenge, the Sixers were

The Philadelphia 76ers found themselves in a hole early on Friday night. As they hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were out for revenge, the Sixers were outscored 43-30 in the first quarter of action. 

While they battled back in the second quarter to keep the game within comeback distance, the 76ers still trailed 71-63 by halftime. Earlier this week, the Sixers received a second-half boost from their second-year guard Tyrese Maxey as he rattled off 21 points in the second half to lead his team to victory.

On Friday night, the young standout had a similar showing in the second half of the matchup against the Cavs. Maxey had just nine of Philadelphia's 63 points at halftime on Friday. He collected 14 points in nine minutes during the third quarter.

When the fourth quarter rolled around, Maxey put up another ten points in nine minutes. Once again, he went off for 24 points in the second half of Friday's game as he knocked down all but one of his five threes and drained seven field goals along with six free throws.

For the second-straight matchup, Maxey earned credit and praise for his second-half performance.

"Any given night, it can be any of us to go off," said Sixers guard James Harden. "Tyrese was the one that picked it up for us tonight. His confidence getting to the basket, getting to the foul line, and his shot-making ability. He had five threes tonight which is huge for us."

During Wednesday's game, Harden had to instill more confidence in Maxey as he joked that the young guard didn't play in the first half against the New York Knicks. When it came to the Cavaliers matchup on Friday, Harden didn't need to repeat himself as Maxey was urged by his head coach to play more aggressively.

"I'm on him a lot about being aggressive," said Doc Rivers. "I yelled at him probably five times tonight, but it's tough for him. You see Joel, you see James Harden and Tobias, and just the more he's aggressive, the better we are."

Maxey finished the night with a game-high of 33 points. He knocked down 10 of his 15 shots from the field and went 5-6 from three. While the Sixers got a stellar effort from numerous players to help complete the comeback and defeat the Cavs 125-119, Maxey was the primary reason why Philadelphia came out on top.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.