While Joel Embiid and James Harden have gotten the most attention for the Philadelphia 76ers, it was Tyrese Maxey that really took over to lead Philadelphia to a 131-111 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday.
Maxey scored 38 points (14-of-21 from the field, 5-of-5 from the free-throw line). The 21-year-old scored 21 of his 38 points in the third quarter. He becomes the youngest player in Sixers history to score 30-plus points in a playoff game.
As a team, the Sixers committed just three turnovers, tied for the lowest by a team in NBA playoff history.
So, the Raptors have a lot to figure out in order to hang in this series, and it’s clearly going to take much more than just preventing Embiid and Harden from going off.
Here’s a sampling of how the basketball world is reacting to Maxey’s performance: