Tyrese Maxey Headlines Resilient Team Win In Play-In Tournament
Apr 15, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) drives for a score against Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) during the fourth quarter of a play-in round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Resilience and team effort were the name of the game Wednesday evening in South Philly, as the Philadelphia 76ers made sure they only had to play one Play-In Tournament game.
After wrapping up the 2025-26 NBA regular season, the 76ers sat as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, setting themselves up for the Play-In Tournament with a matchup against the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic. The 76ers went 2-1 during the regular season against the Magic, but with Orlando fully healthy and ready to roll into the playoffs, and Philadelphia without big man Joel Embiid, it was truly anyone’s game.
Embiid is still recovering from appendicitis surgery and will be out for the foreseeable future, so with Tyrese Maxey and Paul George leading the charge for the 76ers’ first playoff-esque game in two seasons, it was gonna take not just the stars to pull out the win.
While others provided it truly was a huge night for 76ers star and soon-to-be All-NBA team member Tyrese Maxey, who was the clear best player on the court in Wednesday’s 109-97 victory. Maxey finished the night with 31 points and added six assists, one rebound, one steal, and one block.
Maxey was doing it all and, more importantly, scoring all, draining deep threes, hitting nice turnaround mid-rangers, and driving to the hole for tough twos. Anything Maxey wanted, he looked like he could have, and it truly helped the 76ers feel confident throughout the night.
While Maxey went on his cold spells, most notably in the third quarter when he made just one shot, he still kept fighting, and most importantly, down the stretch, made sure that Nick Nurse wasn’t going to have to worry about him.
With eight minutes left to play in the game and the 76ers up just one point, Maxey knocked down a seven-foot floater to make it a three-point lead. He followed that up with a long triple followed by an 11-foot jumper for seven straight points and, more importantly, an eight-point 76ers lead.
Maxey’s seven points were just the start of a 22-11 run by the 76ers in the final eight minutes of action that helped them secure their No. 7 seed and a date with the Boston Celtics. Of course, following his impressive evening, Maxey was first to credit not himself but the entire team on the resilient victory over Orlando.
“We played hard, everybody who stepped on the floor contributed [Wednesday],” Maxey said during his postgame interview on Prime Video. “A lot of these guys haven’t been to the playoffs before, and I told them at the beginning of the year, I don’t care what it takes, we’re going to the playoffs.”
The 76ers, through the struggles, worked hard to get to the spot they’re in. Through injuries and suspensions and bad losses, they found a way. Maxey was right, however, in saying that it took the whole team to pull through for the win.
For starters, the other starters were all very solid for the 76ers in their win. George, VJ Edgecombe, and Kelly Oubre Jr. all finished with 16 points or more, with Oubre and Edgecombe each scoring 19. The field goal percentage doesn’t look good in the statsheet, but all three players came up with huge buckets throughout the night, with Edgecombe adding 11 rebounds for a double-double
However, one of the big performances on the night, not from Maxey, had to be Andre Drummond‘s 14-point, 10-rebound double-double off the bench. Drummond drilled a dagger corner three-pointer to finish off the game, capping off a fantastic performance.
Drummond and Adem Bona will be the two who will get the main run at center until Embiid returns. While Drummond would love to see Embiid out on the floor, he feels that they have what it takes to fill his void.
“We want him to play, but that’s out of our hands,” said Drummond about Embiid postgame. “It’s things we have to deal with, so Adem [Bona], myself, Dom[inick Barlow], have taken it upon ourselves to be ready and prepared. I think we’ve done a great job.”
They’ve been prepared, and that’s in large part thanks to 76ers’ coach Nurse. Nurse had a fantastic night, putting guys in great spots to succeed while not overcomplicating things. During his presser, he spoke about the team’s resilience and how they wanted to be in the spot they’re in since the start of the season:
“I’m proud of them for continuing to pick themselves up and keep playing. We played extremely hard. I felt we made a lot of winning plays,” said Nurse postgame. “To go back to the opening press conference of the year, I said, we got a really, really big hole to dig out of, and we want to get in the tournament somehow. Wasn’t pretty, wasn’t easy, but we’re here now.”
Beating the Celtics won’t be easy. However, with this group finding a way to continue to rally and get the best basketball out of one another, anything can happen in a seven-game series.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox:
