PHILADELPHIA — Some guys just pop. They demand your attention. Even a casual observer can pick them out. A priest, a rabbi and a minister walk into a gym and all of them say to each other: Who’s that guy?
Maybe it’s Tyrese Maxey. He sure looked like it on Monday night. The headlines today say that the big story was Ben Simmons versus the Sixers, but all I kept seeing was Maxey versus his ceiling. This was a preseason game, sure. But that’s part of the point. Superstars aren’t constrained by setting or situation. They call them standouts for a reason. The etymology is as linear as it gets. They stand out.
From the opening tip of the Sixers’ preseason opener, Maxey stood out. He took a pass at half court, glided to his right with a couple of dribbles, and pulled up from 27 feet. Next possession, he did the same thing, this time on the left side of the court. Next possession, the Nets tried to play defense, so he hesitated, crossed over, and floated a nine-footer over the help man and off the backboard. Top of the square, bottom of the net. He scored his team’s first eight points, and then he scored 12 more. By the time his night was over, he’d scored 20 points with three assists in 14 minutes. That’s the equivalent of 48 points and seven assists in 34 minutes. On a court that also included Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, he did the kind of things that those kind of guys do.
