Tyrese Maxey addressed coming off the bench during the Sixers 113-112 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers
The Philadelphia 76ers won their second straight game on the road last night against the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-112.
Doc Rivers and company rolled out a starting lineup with De’Anthony Melton getting the nod over Tyrese Maxey, alongside the typical starters in James Harden, Joel Embiid, PJ Tucker, and Tobias Harris.
At the start of the season, the projected starting lineup for the Sixers was as followed:
- James Harden
- Tyrese Maxey
- Tobias Harris
- PJ Tucker
- Joel Embiid
That lineup has only played 11 games together as the starting five for a variety of reasons, mainly just injuries that plagued Harden, Maxey, and at times, Embiid throughout the first half of the 2022-23 season.
At the end of the day, the Harden-Maxey duo has been pretty rough defensively, which is probably why Rivers decided to go with Melton in the starting lineup against the Lakers.
Last night, Maxey scored 16 points last night in 33 minutes and talked with the media about coming off the bench.
Tyrese Maxey: The Sixers have more than 5 starters
Originally tweeted by DFAntastic (@PhillyTradesman) on January 16, 2023.
“I mean, sometimes, you gotta be the bigger person. I felt like it was kind of trending toward that way, but I’m a professional at the end of the day. I feel like I am a starter in this league, but I feel like our team is so good that I think we have multiple people starting.”
“At the end of the day, I played like 33 minutes so I mean, it is what it is. I go out there and play. Do whatever they need me to do to win. So we won. That’s what matters.”
Honestly, it doesn’t really matter that Tyrese Maxey is coming off the bench when he’s getting 33+ minutes of playing time. Also, it’s nice to have Maxey ready to go off the bench, which at times, lacks scoring depth, so I really don’t mind seeing Melton in the starting lineup at all. Winning is all that matters and if that’s how the 76ers are going to keep playing strong defense, then it simply is what it is.
The Sixers have now won 15 out of their last 19 games, sitting at 27-16 in the Eastern Conference Standings. They leapfrogged the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East and are now in fourth place. No team has won more games than the Sixers over the last 20 games other than the Celtics, who currently sit atop the East with a 32-12 record.
They’ll continue their road trip tomorrow night in Los Angeles again, this time against the Clippers.
