Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 44 points and made a career-high 9 3pt FGM (9-12), carrying the Philadelphia 76ers without Joel Embiid to a 112-90 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night. Tyrese Maxey is the first player in the play-by-play era (since 1997-1998) to record 25+ points and 7+ 3pt FG on 100% FG in any half of a game.
Embiid sat out because of a sore right knee. A five-time All Star and the reigning NBA scoring champion, Embiid is averaging 27.6 points and 10 rebounds in five games.
The 76ers didn't miss Embiid and didn't even need much from James Harden because of Maxey, who made his first 10 shots, seven of them from long range, and didn't miss until a 3-pointer rimmed out with 8 minutes left in the third quarter.
“I just know how good we can be, I know how talented we are, but we've got to match our talent with the energy that we play with, and defensive tenacity,” Maxey said. “Tonight we knew it was going to be extremely hard without Joel. That made guys step up, that made guys do things they don't normally do.”
Maxey shot 15 for 20 overall, going a career-best 9 for 12 from outside.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.