Tyrese Maxey Talks Physicality in Win vs. Hornets
On Friday night, the Philadelphia 76ers welcomed the Charlotte Hornets into the Wells Fargo Center, as they looked to snap their two game losing streak following a tough loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.
The Sixers would walk away with a win against the Hornets, as Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey erupted for 64 points, with Kyle Lowry contributing 15 points and ten assist of his own in his first start as a Sixer.
Despite the win for Philadelphia, it didn't come easily as the Hornets wouldn't allow the hosts to go ahead by more than 12 points, as they played a rough physical match, blocking six shots and recording five steals.
The aforementioned Maxey had a difficult night on the interior, having gotten packed on several of his attempts at layups, missing 11 shots in the paint throughout the night.
Following the win, the Sixers' All-Star spoke with NBC Sports Philadelphia, breaking down his mentality in such a physical match, with an additional focus on keeping players' cool throughout a somewhat heated match.
"You got to stay level-headed, you know, we kind of lost our cool there for a second, but nobody got ticked..." explained Maxey, "we found a way to stay level-headed, and it worked out for us at the end."
While Maxey was on the receiving end of some of the Hornets' more physical plays, he made up for it within the final minute of play, blocking a shot from behind Tre Mann, which would be rebounded by Lowry, and would set up the Sixers' to ice the game off on the other end of the court.
The 23-year-old explained that the final result came despite the physicality, and was a result of things going their way down the stretch.
"Yeah, it was extremely physical, but, you know, guys broke it down and got stops at the end like we needed to," stated Maxey.
Their win against the Hornets guaranteed that Nick Nurse's side pulled off the season series win, with an opportunity to pull off a sweep coming down the line when the two sides square off on Saturday, March 16.
