The Philadelphia 76ers found themselves in a hole on Friday night. As they hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were out for revenge, the Sixers were outscored 43-30 in the first quarter of the action.
While they made a comeback in the second quarter to keep the game within walking distance, the 76ers were still trailing 71-63. Earlier this week, the Sixers received a second-half boost from their second year guard Tyrese Maxi as he led his side to victory with 21 points in the second half.
On Friday night, the young standout had a similar performance in the second half of the matchup against the Cavs. By halftime on Friday, Maxi had just nine of Philadelphia's 63 points. He scored 14 points in nine minutes during the third quarter.
When the fourth quarter rolled, Maxi scored another ten points in nine minutes. Once again, he went for 24 points in the second half of Friday's game as he dropped one of his five fours and scored seven field goals with six free throws.
For the second straight matchup, Maxi earned credit and praise for his second-half performance.
"Any night, any of us can go," said Sixers guard James Harden. "Tyres was the one who picked it up for us tonight. His confidence was reaching the basket, reaching the foul line and his ability to make shots. He had five threes tonight which is huge for us."
During Wednesday's game, Harden had to instill more confidence in the maxi as he joked that the young guard didn't play in the first half against the New York Knicks. When it came to Friday's Cavaliers matchup, Harden didn't need to repeat himself as Maxi was urged by his head coach to play more aggressively.
"I'm a lot about being aggressive on him," said Doc Rivers. "I yelled at him maybe five times tonight, but it's tough on him. You look at Joel, you look at James Harden and Tobias, and the more aggressive he is, the better off we are."
Maxi ended the night with a game-high 33 points. He dropped 10 of his 15 shots off the ground and scored 5-6 off three. While it received a resounding effort from several players to help the Sixers complete the comeback and defeat the Cavs 125-119, the maxi was the primary reason why Philadelphia came out on top.