Tyrese Maxey, Isaiah Joe Lead Sixers to Victory in First Summer League Game
The Sixers 2021 Summer League campaign started off with a bang Monday night, to the sound of a 95-73 thrashing of the Dallas Mavericks. The game was over about 8 minutes into the contest, thanks to the spectacular shooting from Maxey and Joe. At halftime, those two had outscored the entire Mavs roster.
The lead was up to 38 at one point, but a sloppy 2nd half from the Sixers made the fixture less of a complete blow out.
Maxey, who ended the game with 21 points, did a phenomenal job guiding the offense. Slowing down the tempo and making sure everyone was in the right spots is something that we haven't seen from Tyrese until now. Maxey was showing glimpses of Damian Lillard and James Harden like step back 3s, mixed with the speed of De'Aaron Fox. It was made clear early on that Tyrese was by far the best player on the court. Along with his great shooting performance, his playmaking was on display as well. Ending the game with 4 assists, he did a great job find his open teammates, on the perimeter and in the paint.
It did not take Isaiah Joe long to get rolling. He made 4 three pointers right off the bat, including a very impressive and-one from behind the arc. Throughout his G-League stint last season, Joe was knocking down threes at a high rate, so this was nothing new for him. Joe ended the game with 15 points. He is a type of player I would love to see given a bigger role for this upcoming regular season. He is fast, has quick hands on defense, athletic, and is a superb shooter.
The reigning G-League MVP, Paul Reed, got off to a slow start, but ignited the crowd with a monster dunk in the 2nd half. Reed was doing a lot of the little things on the court today. Going for loose balls, getting long rebounds, blocking shots, and running in transition were all positives we saw from him in his first summer league outing. Paul Reed was 4/8 from the field tonight, notching 9 points.
In his Sixers debut, Jaden Springer met expectations. He struggled to find his shot at times, but his defense was world class. In the 2nd half, he made a catch and shoot 3 from the corner, which is a huge positive.
We got to see the high-flying Rayjon Tucker do his thing on the fast break. A couple of exhilarating dunks from the youngster was a huge spark for the Sixers early on. It seems the new Sixers Twitter agenda is to have Tucker in this year's Dunk Contest, and I am totally on board.
Sixers 2nd round pick, Charles Bassey, did not play in today's game as he has not reached a contract deal yet with the organization.
To put things straight, this Mavericks team was not good at all. They couldn't do anything around the rim and they shot a putrid 23% from long range. Tyrell Terry was basically the only bright spot for Dallas as he made a couple of tough shots around the rim.
You can catch the Sixers in their next Summer League game against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday at 9pm on ESPN2.