As Tyrese Maxey ascends, his shotmaking in ‘clutch’ scenarios is still a work in progress
Maxey missed shots at the end of regulation and overtime of the Sixers' 125-124 loss to the depleted Nuggets.
An onlooker could have determined that Tyrese Maxey simply lost his dribble at the end of regulation Monday in a loss to the Denver Nuggets, forcing him into a rushed, fading three-point attempt.
But the 76ers’ star point guard already recognized that he wished he had gotten an earlier screen from teammate VJ Edgecombe. That would have given him more time to determine whether he should pass the ball if he drew multiple defenders or attack the basket with his explosiveness.
“Once I came off the screen, there was like four or five seconds left,” Maxey said postgame. “They were kind of faking the double[-team] at me, and that was a little difficult for me.”
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The Sixers never should have been in a last-possession situation against the depleted Nuggets, who played their 125-124 overtime victory at Xfinity Mobile Arena without their top seven players, including MVP front-runner Nikola Jokić. But Maxey had the ball in his hands at the end of regulation and the extra frame and missed two potential game-winning shots.
That developing responsibility comes with the 25-year-old’s continued ascent that includes being named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, being ranked second in the East in fan voting in the first All-Star returns, and earning legitimate MVP buzz for the surprising 19-15 Sixers.
“I’m just learning what [actions] I want to get into, how I want to play, where I want guys,” said Maxey, who totaled 28 points, six rebounds, six assists, and four steals against Denver. “… I could have done a better job of explaining what I wanted and what I wanted to happen.”
Maxey also misfired at the end of overtime on an attempt he described as a “good look” but that coach Nick Nurse called “OK.” Maxey took the inbounds pass with less than five seconds remaining and turned the right corner around the defender, but tripped over his foot and, while falling, lofted a floater that bounced off the rim.
“Got a little off-balance,” Nurse said, “and probably wasn’t as clean a look as he wanted to get.”
Maxey and the Sixers are no strangers to matchups going down to the wire this season. They entered Tuesday tied for second in the NBA with 23 “clutch” games played, when the scoring margin is five points or fewer with five minutes remaining in regulation. They are 13-10 in such situations and are tied for ninth in the league in winning percentage (.565) and are sixth in net rating (plus-1.4).
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Maxey has played in 21 of those games, and ranks 10th in the league in scoring average in those minutes (four points) among players with at least 10 clutch appearances. Maxey is shooting 39.7% from the floor, including 22.7% from three-point range in those minutes, significant dips from his overall shooting numbers (47.5% from the field, 40.5% from long range) while sitting third in the NBA in scoring at 31 points per game.
The defense — and pressure — increases down the stretch of tight games, of course. But this season, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder is shooting 49.2% from the floor in clutch situations, while averaging 7.4 points. Last season, NBA Clutch Player of the Year Jalen Brunson connected on 51.1% of his attempts and averaged 5.6 points in those minutes for a New York Knicks team that advanced to the Eastern Conference finals. Entering Tuesday, Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, and Devin Booker are shooting 50% or better in at least 12 clutch games played this season.
They headline the elite guard group that Maxey, in many ways, has already cracked. Yet he spoke last season about experiencing a variety of new defensive coverages while becoming the Sixers’ clear top offensive option, while former MVP Joel Embiid and perennial All-Star Paul George mostly were sidelined with injuries. Consider these clutch demands — which were a rarity during a woeful 24-58 season in 2024-25 — the next layer.
Long before Monday’s waning seconds of regulation and overtime, Nurse said the Sixers lost “strictly a shooting percentage game” by allowing the shorthanded Nuggets to get comfortable from the floor (53.1%) and beyond the arc (18-for-37). Embiid, meanwhile, called the Sixers’ offensive spacing “kind of terrible,” and said the basketball IQ required to counter the smaller Nuggets’ double teams of him was “high school stuff.” Denver gained its final lead in overtime via a goaltending call on Embiid, who acknowledged that he mistimed his jump to challenge a Bruce Brown transition layup.
» READ MORE: VJ Edgecombe’s short career is full of milestones. The Sixers think there are more to come.
In November, Maxey fervently clapped when asked about the crunch-time games the Sixers had already compiled. He said then that he was proud of his team’s resilience, and that the experience should hold long-term benefits. On his own, Maxey had already rewatched the Sixers’ first two matchups against the Boston Celtics (a one-point win and one-point defeat, respectively), along with their 136-124 victory against the Orlando Magic on Oct. 27 and their dreadful 113-111 loss at the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 4.
“There were a couple times I just got in the paint, kicked it out, got some open threes,” Maxey said then. “I think that’s the biggest thing. And then, sometimes, I’m going to have to shoot some tough shots — and make some tough shots. I can live on that hill.”
Since then, Maxey has connected on timely fourth-quarter shots at Madison Square Garden to keep the Sixers out of clutch territory in Saturday’s victory over the Knicks. And he covered the ground for an highlight-worthy chase-down block on former teammate De’Anthony Melton to preserve a Dec. 4 home victory against the Golden State Warriors. And he dished to Edgecombe for an overtime game-winner at the Memphis Grizzlies last week.
That play featured the screen timing from Edgecombe that Maxey desired Monday, when he got going too late before bobbling the ball. By the time Maxey hit the podium for his postgame news conference, he had vocalized that to his rookie teammate.
That is part of Maxey’s development — and responsibility — as a clutch player. And Embiid, who has plenty of experience in those final-possession scenarios, believes in his star point guard.
“You have the ball, the whole defense is looking at you,” Embiid said. “… You don’t necessarily have to take that last shot. The double comes, you invite it, and then you make the right plays.
“I think [Maxey] has the right mindset to make those plays, and we’re still going to trust him to make those plays.”