TORONTO — Tyrese Maxey sat atop the Scotiabank Arena scorer’s table Thursday afternoon, when Georges Niang interrupted while walking toward the crowd surrounding the Sixers’ second-year point guard.
“Come on, Tyrese. There ain’t much to say,” Niang hollered following the Sixers’ shootaround. “Win, and let’s get the hell up on out of here.”
That loose-yet-intense tone had permeated from the Sixers the past two days, following a Game 5 loss to the Raptors in their first-round playoff series that players described as “terrible” and “lackadaisical.” That translated to the court Thursday night in a dominant 132-97 victory to finally defeat Toronto 4-2 and move onto the Eastern Conference semifinals against the top-seeded Miami Heat.
