Sixers vs. Knicks takeaways: Tyrese Maxey excels on both ends; man-to-man woes; saved by zone

Tyrese Maxey is out of his rut.

The 76ers man-to-man defensive still needs a lot of work. Yet, they’re able to make stops when it counts while playing mostly zone.

These three things stood out during Friday’s 119-108 victory over the New York Knicks at the Wells Fargo Center.

Tyrese Maxey looked more like the dominant third option in the starting lineup than the overwhelmed reserve on this night. And that was a good thing for the Sixers (35-19) and Maxey, who came off the bench in 11 of the last 12 games.

Maxey scored 27 points while making 5 of 8 three-pointers to go with three steals.

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“I feel better,” said Maxey, who averaged 13.3 points on 35.4 % shooting in his previous four games. “I had a rough past week, and, mentally, I didn’t play well.”

He had a 90-minute conversation with his parents on Thursday that got him back on the right track.

“You know, I kind of got all the emotions out that I needed to get out,” he said. “I told coach Doc [Rivers] and I told [assistant coach Sam Cassell], ‘I was human. I had to let it out.’ Once I let it out, I told him, ‘I’ll be the best version of Tyrese I can be for the rest of this year.’”

The Sixers played a lot of 2-3 zone against the Knicks (30-27), and Joel Embiid didn’t sugarcoat why.

“We got to guard to the ball better,” he said of struggles in man-to-man. “We just haven’t been able to guard our own man. That’s a big issue. Every single game is the game thing. So I think that’s where it starts.

“But always having the backup plan of always going to the 2-3 zone helps against some teams.”

It gets tougher against teams than with solid shooters.

On this night, however, Maxey did a solid job of guarding Jalen Brunson in the fourth quarter while the Sixers were mostly in a zone.

Brunson had two points on 1-for-3 shooting in the fourth quarter. That came after he had 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting through three quarters.

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“Stay into the ball and listen to your teammates behind you,” Maxey said of the key to being good in the zone. “I think Joel, [P.J. Tucker], Georges [Niang], all those people that were behind me did a good job of telling me where the screen was.”

The guard added that once you know where the screen is a player is able to navigate it.

The Knicks shot 35.3% on the fourth quarter while being outscored, 27-15.

Best performance: This goes to Embiid on a night he finished with game highs of 35 points and 11 rebounds. The Sixers All-Star made 14 of 18 shots, had a team-high two blocks to go with one steal and committed just one turnover in 37 minutes, 45 seconds.

Worst performance: I had to give this to DeAnthony Melton. The Sixers shooting guard struggled on both sides on the floor. He scored five points on 2-for-6 shooting, including going 1 of 5 on three-pointers. Melton was a minus-13 in 18:36.

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Best defensive performance: I had to give this to Maxey,who finished with a game-high three steals. His defense was a deciding factor. He and his teammates got torched in the first half, but stood out in the zone.

Worst statistics: This goes to the Knicks foul shooting. They shot 68.8% on the foul line.

Best statistics: This goes to New York shooting 60% on the first half.