Tyrese Maxey Explains Reason Behind 76ers’ Early Rough Patch

Tyrese Maxey acknowledged the Sixers' main struggles through four games.

Oct 30, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) shoots a foul shotagainst the Detroit Pistons during the fourth quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia 76ers have hit a rough patch to start the year. While Tyrese Maxey is finding his groove after a slower start than expected, as a whole, the Sixers haven’t found much success.

Wednesday night’s loss against the Detroit Pistons was just another example of a team searching for its temporary identity while they miss two key players in Joel Embiid and Paul George.

Following a 105-95 loss, Maxey dished his thoughts on why the Sixers are struggling so much early on, aside from the fact that two All-Stars are sidelined.

“I think transition defense hasn’t been great,” Maxey revealed. “Coach Nurse was talking about how we got to figure out when we want to crash, when we don’t want to crash, and who wants to crash, and being smart about our crashing too. I think that’s one thing we can talk about, and it’s a lot of different pieces. A lot of different pieces on why we’re losing.”

When it came to the loss against the Milwaukee Bucks, Maxey and the Sixers struggled to gain a rhythm from the field. Meanwhile, their opponent got a major second-half boost from the All-Star duo of Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

In the Toronto Raptors matchup, Maxey admitted the Sixers “didn’t play hard enough.” Against a young and rebuilding Raptors team, the Sixers dropped to 0-2.

Sunday’s game against the Indiana Pacers was an outstanding personal performance from Maxey and a solid showing from his supporting cast. Then, the Sixers followed up with a matchup where they were dominated physically.

“Tonight, they outplayed us,” Maxey said of the Pistons. “They out-rebounded—pretty bad, They out-rebounded us and out-toughed us and got where they wanted to get.”

The Pistons won the rebounding battle 49-37. Along with creating plenty of second-chance opportunities, the Pistons shot better from the field and from beyond the arc, as they made 42 percent of their threes.

Lately, the Pistons have been putting up a good fight against their opponents but haven’t been able to close. On Wednesday night in Philly, the Sixers gave them their first opportunity to execute in crunch time. The Pistons picked up win No. 1 for their record. Meanwhile, the Sixers drop to 1-3.