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EspañolMaxey happy to take a rare pause following record-breaking, meaningful night originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Tyrese Maxey’s record-breaking Thursday night was not just one of those silly, manufactured milestones.
It wasn’t as if he became the first Sixer to ever post at least 25 points, 10 assists and three steals in a game during the last week of February while wearing a black uniform and red shoes.
Maxey broke Allen Iverson’s franchise three-point record in the first quarter of his team’s win over the Heat. The Sixers acknowledged the moment with a Jumbotron graphic and a video following Maxey’s 20-point first quarter. The fans chanted “MVP” and Maxey soaked it all in.
Not a game that will bled in with the blur of NBA life at the end of Maxey’s career.
“I’m just happy, man,” Maxey said. “I’m blessed. I thank God for the opportunity, thank God for the Sixers organization drafting me, trusting me, believing in me. I thank God for both my coaches, Doc (Rivers) and (Nick) Nurse. They’ve instilled a lot of confidence in me.
“And lastly, my teammates, man. I gave a shoutout to Tobias (Harris) earlier. My rookie year, he told me I was a great shooter. Even though I wasn’t shooting as well as I wanted to, he told me I was a great shooter. And Joel (Embiid), man. He’s been on me about shooting 10 threes a a game since probably my second or third year and I appreciate him for that.”
The names directly below Maxey on the Sixers’ three-point leaderboard are now Iverson, Robert Covington, Kyle Korver, Harris and Embiid. Of course, Iverson is not the best pure shooter on that list. Korver’s an all-time great in that department. He still ranks in the top 10 in NBA history for both three-point makes and three-point percentage.
Iverson’s a Hall of Famer and franchise legend, though. The basic facts are Maxey, at 25 years old, broke his record. He didn’t take that lightly.
“A.I. is somebody that we’ve all looked up to, that I looked up to, being a small guard,” Maxey said. “To be able to pass him at anything in basketball, that’s cool. To have my name next to his is a blessing.”
The gist of Maxey’s route to stardom is well-known, but some scenes pop to mind again.
In all likelihood, Maxey would’ve been drafted higher than the 21st pick if he’d been a better shooter in college. He went 29.2 percent beyond the arc in his 31 games at Kentucky and COVID-19 then canceled the NCAA tournament.
Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey even said on draft night that, “People have sort of fixated on his shooting” and noted “we strongly believe Tyrese will shoot better than the number that sticks next to his name in not a lot of Kentucky games.”
Maxey missed the start of his first NBA training camp after testing positive for COVID.
“It’s a minor setback for a major comeback,” he said via Zoom.
Though he showed fantastic abilities as a rookie, Maxey only made 31 threes and shot 30.1 percent. He kept firing up shots before most players were awake and kept improving. If you saw him behind the scenes, you knew he was determined to find out his full potential.
Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell was an early believer during his three seasons mentoring Maxey on the Sixers’ staff.
“The kid puts the work in, so his success doesn’t surprise me,” Cassell told NBC Sports Philadelphia in 2022. “It surprised all of y’all, but nothing he does on the basketball court surprises me.”
Maxey’s speed remains his world-class tool. There’s many aspects of his game one can easily glide past these days, including his immense, league-leading minutes load.
For good reason, Maxey was happy to pause Thursday night and share why he had a historic game ball in his hands.
“I always said I was going to make it to the NBA and I didn’t know what to expect,” Maxey said. “Someone asked me at All-Star (weekend), ‘Did I expect to be an All-Star starter?’ And I was like, ‘No, man. I just worked.’
“I just work, work, work until I can’t work anymore. That’s just the mindset that I have.”