Sixers vs. Houston Rockets takeaways: Tyrese Maxey’s back in rhythm; Jalen McDaniels is versatile

Tyrese Maxey is playing better on both ends of the floor.

Jalen McDaniels is fitting in nicely with the 76ers. And the Sixers need to do a better job limiting opponents from grabbing offensive rebounds.

These three things stood out during Monday’s 123-104 victory over the Houston Rockets at the Wells Fargo Center.

Remember last week when Maxey was in a funk?

Well, he’s shown no signs of that in the last three games, especially not against the Rockets (13-44).

The Sixers shooting guard had one of his better all-around games of the season. Maxey scored 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting, including making 4 of 8 three-pointers. He added six assists, five rebounds, two steals and was a game-best plus-28.

“Yeah, I’m just trying to find ways to, like say, be impactful and disruptive,” Maxey said.

And he’s doing just that, averaging 21.6 points and 1.6 steals in the past three games.

While he had a couple of good games initially, Maxey had recently looked out of sync in his new role as the sixth man, at least, before the last three games.

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But now, he’s back in rhythm and playing solid defense. Defense had been a glaring weakness of his previously.

He’ll tell you he was a solid defender in high school.

“I would get a lot of steals, but once I kind of got to college, I got scared to make a mistake and come out the game for [coach John Calipari],” he said of playing at Kentucky. “So like I wasn’t reaching as much and willing to gamble, but now I can be a little more aggressive now because of course we got the big fella [Joel Embiid] behind us and we got help on defense. So it’s been pretty good.”

Sixers coach Doc Rivers is finding out that he can play McDaniels at various positions in any game.

“Yeah, I mean today, I think [he played] the two, three, four.” Rivers said. “So that’s one of the reasons we were so attracted to him, because of that ability to make shots. He loves playing hard; he’s just a hard player, you can see that.”

The 6-foot-9, 205-pound wing had eight points on 3-for-4 shooting, including making his lone three-pointer. He also had five rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes, 55 seconds.

“Honestly, I just really take what the defense gives me,” he said of his approach. “I feel like I’m just an instinctual player. I really don’t try to predetermine stuff. I just go out there and just fly around and have fun. Offensively it’s just gonna come together just me playing with a high motor, offensive rebounding, so I’m gonna hit shots and stuff like that, so I’m not really worried about it.”

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The Sixers acquired McDaniels from the Charlotte Hornets, as well as second-round picks from the New York Knicks (2024) and Blazers (2029) in Thursday’s four-team trade that sent Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers.

In the process, McDaniel went playing for a team with a 16-43 record to a 37-19 team in contention for the Eastern Conference title.

“The energy is just different,” he said of playing for a contending team. “Everybody’s positive. We’re just looking for the bigger picture, you know, playoff run, and stuff like that. Guys are really locked in so it’s like serious, but we have fun. It’s just great to be a part of it, honestly.”

The Sixers rank 28th in the league in rebounding at 40.6 per game. Yet, they also give up a lot of offensive rebounds to opposing teams. Monday was no different.

The Rockets had 15 offensive rebounds with 11 coming in the first half.

“It’s an area we have to keep working on,” Rivers said. “They’re different. Like we showed the film today. All five guys just crash in there. So they’re athletic; they’re long. But we showed at halftime there were four of those we should have gotten. We should have hit bodies, and we don’t. That’s something we have to do.”

The Sixers had seven offensive rebounds and were outrebounded 42-38 overall.

Best performance: This goes to Maxey is excelling on both ends of the floor.

Worst performance: I had to give this to Josh Christopher.. The Rockets reserve guard scored two points while missing five of six shots.

Best defensive performance: I had to give this to Paul Reed. The Sixers reserve center had a game-high three blocks to go with two steals.

Worst statistics: This goes to the Rockets three-point shooting in the first half. They shot 0-for-9 from deep in the first half.

Best statistics: This goes to the Sixers foul shooting. They made16 of 17 free throws.