Tyrese Maxey on Challenges Against Giannis Antetokounmpo

Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey knows it will take a team effort to slow down Giannis Antetokounmpo on Thursday.

With the Milwaukee Bucks in town to face the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night, all eyes will be on the battle between the two MVP bigs, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid. The Sixers will have their hands full defensively, as Giannis is one of the most dominant players to take the floor these days.

It’s going to take a team effort for the Sixers to slow down the former MVP. 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey won’t have to guard the big man, but he understands that Philly’s defense will have to chip in as much as possible to try and slow down the Greek Freak.

“Tonight is gonna be a great test,” said Maxey on Thursday morning. “Giannis is a guy who we’re gonna have to rely on each other and rely on the guys behind us or whoever is guarding him at the time to wall up.”

The Sixers entered the 2022-2023 season with plans to establish themselves as one of the NBA’s best defensive squads. Through their first game against the Boston Celtics, the Sixers came up quite short of their goals. 

Boston drained 56 percent of their shots from the field. Five Celtics scored more than 13 points, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown dishing out 35 points a piece. In transition, the Sixers gave up 22 points off of 14 turnovers. In total, the Celtics scored 126 points. 

“Leaving out of Charleston, we knew what our principles are defensively, we kind of knew who we were,” Maxey explained. “We kind of got away from that as the preseason ended and in the first game. I think that’s gonna be a big thing that we focus on these next couple of games is getting back to what we are and getting back to playing tight defense.”

The Sixers and the Bucks are set to tip off at 7:30 PM ET. Thursday’s game will serve as another opportunity for the Sixers to re-group and bounce back, getting back to the way they want to play.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.