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Tyrese Maxey Sounds Frustrated
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The Sixers lost at home to Hawks on Thursday night, 117-107. Joel Embiid was OUT with injury and Paul George suspended. They’ve now lost four of their last five and are holding on to the 6th seed by a half game:
“It definitely is (tougher to adjust without Embiid now). We’re playing multiple styles of basketball. That’s why I said for myself a couple of games ago it’s weird you know. I’m having a successful year but I played three different roles, you know what I mean? That’s difficult but it comes with it sometimes. That’s not an excuse that you can use, you know? You gotta go out there with what we have out there and try to win games. We’re in the game. We have chances to win. Played a hell of a third quarter. Slow start of the fourth quarter and just couldn’t recover.”
“I’m having a successful year” isn’t going to be well received by a portion of Sixers fans. It reminds you a little bit of Big Play Slay letting everyone know that he played well in Dallas back in 2023 even though the Eagles lost. Tyrese didn’t play his best game on Thursday night either. He shot 8 for 23 from the floor and 20 of his 28 points came from four three pointers and eight free throws. He couldn’t get anything to go in the fourth quarter.
But Maxey is the last guy to blame for anything this season. He’s out there every night playing huge minutes and putting the team on his back when Embiid and George aren’t on the floor. Think about how frustrated you and I are watching this absurd, two-year carousel of injury and suspension and then think about how the players themselves feel. Here we are coming out of the All-Star break and two of the three max players aren’t available. Relatable, we’ve all shown up to a work shift or an office job and somebody is out sick, or they no-showed or called off. So here we are picking up the slack regardless of the circumstances and it sucked then and sucks now. It’s a tale as old as time.
It sounds like Maxey is frustrated, and it’s hard to blame him. But as shitty as it is, he’s gotta just pull through and do his best to keep this team afloat until the other two max players get back on the floor, assuming they do. As he says in his quote, “That’s not an excuse that you can use, you know?“
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com