Sixers need more from Tyrese Maxey to stay afloat without Joel Embiid

As Tyrese Maxey tied his shoe during a first-quarter timeout Monday night, teammates told him to look up. The 76ers’ newly minted All-Star point guard instead kept his head down and stuck out his hand for a high five, then realized who was on the receiving end.

“I just feel somebody grab my hand and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s Joel,’ ” Maxey said, referring to injured superstar Joel Embiid.

That’s the only type of on-court support Embiid — the reigning MVP and NBA’s leading scorer — could provide Maxey ahead of surgery on the meniscus in his left knee. And that exchange was a reminder of what an up-and-down week it has been for Maxey. He went from sitting out three games with a sprained ankle, to dropping 51 points on the Utah Jazz the same night he was named an All-Star for the first time, to learning about Embiid’s procedure, to struggling as the Sixers’ top offensive option in consecutive double-digit losses.

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In Monday’s 118-102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Maxey went 6-of-16 from the floor with 15 points and seven assists, and was a team-worst minus-23 in the Sixers’ sixth loss in seven games. But with Embiid expected to miss at least four weeks following his surgery, the pressure is on Maxey to help keep the 30-19 Sixers afloat.

“It’s been a lot,” Maxey acknowledged after the game. “… Now, we’ve just got to get back on track. This team, there’s a lot going on. This is the NBA.”

Before the season, Sixers coach Nick Nurse publicly cautioned that Maxey might go through growing pains while replacing the disgruntled (and then traded) James Harden as the team’s lead guard. Maxey initially bypassed those — and still averages a career-high 25.9 points and 6.4 assists — while creating a dynamic partnership with Embiid that kept the Sixers a contender through the first half of the season.

But playing without Embiid is where those struggles have surfaced. For every 51-point game at Utah or 42-point outburst at Houston, there have been clunkers like Nov. 22 at Minnesota (16 points on 7-of-19 shooting), Christmas Day at Miami (12 points on 4-of-20 shooting), and the past two home losses.

“This is kind of my first time going through this,” said the 23-year-old Maxey, “and we’re all kind of learning together.”

Probably the only stretch that has been comparable for Maxey was early in the 2021-22 season, when he was thrust into the starting point guard job when Ben Simmons held out following a trade request and Embiid missed a long road trip with COVID-19. Back then, though, Maxey was a second-year player just beginning his ascent — not the focal point of opponents’ scouting reports.

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Which means he also needs help from his teammates when he is “blitzed,” or double-teamed on a ball screen. A peeved Nurse said after Monday’s loss that he “[didn’t] think we executed the blitz offense package tonight worth a darn. That’s disappointing to me because we work on that, like, all the time.” Maxey took the blame, saying he needs to get rid of the ball quicker. But starting wing Kelly Oubre Jr. added that teammates should “be in the same spot every single time” Maxey is swarmed.

“You see with Luka [Dončić], with Kyrie [Irving],” said Oubre, referencing Monday’s backcourt counterparts. “We blitz them, those guys are in the same spots every single possession. And they were comfortable being in those spots and knocking those shots down. …

“We need to have outlets and have guys who are ready and confident to knock them [down] and make them pay for that.”

Yet Nurse also critiqued the way Maxey has struggled the past two games to finish at the basket, including in Monday’s streaky night from the floor. Maxey acknowledged he has recently been “looking for fouls and trying to shoot free throws instead of just going in to score.”

Against the Mavericks, he made his first three shots: a transition layup off a turnover, a driving conversion, and a pull-up three-pointer. But then he picked up three fouls in the first quarter, limiting his first-half minutes and throwing off his rhythm amid five consecutive missed shots. He then made two nice moves to the basket to open the third quarter, but misfired on his next four attempts — and had one play originally ruled an and-one that was deemed an offensive foul after Mavericks coach Jason Kidd challenged the call.

“He’s got to finish,” Nurse said of Maxey. “You’ve got to adjust. You’ve got to do something else. … If we’re going to get by people and we’re going to get it to six, eight, four feet [from the basket] and we’re going to take some verticals or chests or forearms or whatever, we’ve still got to be able to score them.

“We just can’t go down there. I haven’t looked at our paint percentage tonight, but it probably ain’t good. It ain’t good enough.”

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Maxey politely dismissed a question about whether his ankle is still bothering him, saying, “If I’m going out there to play, I’m not going to make any excuses.” And when asked how much Maxey’s original benchmark, set by Nurse, of 20 shot attempts per game has gone up in Embiid’s absence, Maxey said he and his coach have not discussed a specific number but “I just know I got to be aggressive.”

That style earned pregame praise from Kidd, the Hall of Fame point guard-turned Dallas head coach. Kidd commended Maxey’s speed in transition and off made shots and the way he can attack the rim and bury three-point shots.

“He should be an All-Star,” Kidd said. “He’s one of the best guards in the league.”

Now, the Sixers need Maxey to be their anchor for however long Embiid is sidelined. So far, that quest has been choppy. Yet reinforcements should arrive soon, with Tobias Harris getting healthier following two illnesses, and fellow starters Nico Batum (hamstring) and De’Anthony Melton (spine) progressing toward a return.

And even as disappointment permeated Maxey’s postgame news conference late Monday, his signature smile occasionally cracked through.

“This is the best job in the world,” Maxey said. “We can’t do any complaining. We’ve just got to get out there and find solutions to help us win.”

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