Sixers Bell Ringer: Rockets survive Tyrese Maxey’s second-half takeover

Sixes Bell Ringers regular season standings:

Jared McCain – 7th

Paul George – 2

Tyrese Maxey – 2

Guerschon Yabusele – 2

Justin Edwards – 1st

Joel Embiid – 1

Kelly Oubre, Jr. – 1

The Philadelphia 76ers fell 122-115 in overtime Houston Rockets despite 39 points from Tyrese Maxey. It was a good game, but I’m not big on moral victories in the NBA, especially for a team that’s now 3-14.

The Sixers were without both Joel Embiid (left knee injury) and Paul George (left knee bone bruise) for this one. Kyle Lowry (right hip strain) and Caleb Martin (upper back soreness) were also out.

After struggling to get going and falling into a double-digit deficit early, the Sixers began to wake up in the second period and make this a real game. Taking advantage of a cold shooting period to end the first half for the Rockets, the Sixers clawed back to within a few points at halftime. Throughout the third, the two teams absolutely battled — scoring back and forth, shot for shot — but the Rockets remained steadfast in holding on to the lead throughout, no matter how narrow it became.

The Sixers really hung in there, though, with a good Rockets team — even though they were on the second leg of a back-to-back.

After a lackluster first half by his standards, Maxey locked in a second half with 28 points after the break to lead the Sixers with 39 for the night. Maxey was the main reason (if not the only reason) the Sixers were still in the game when the game came down to the wire.

With just 11 seconds left to play, Maxey was able to draw a foul from beyond the arc and was sent to the line to shoot a three with the Sixers down by three. Ice in his veins, Maxey sank all three, tying the contest at 108 apiece. Unfortunately, the Sixers just seemed gassed after that in overtime. Despite being on the second leg of a back-to-back with Game One also going to overtime, the Rockets were simply able to outlast the Sixers’ fight.

The Sixers will now have two days off before returning to torture us more on Saturday night with a visit from Tobias Harris and Detroit Pistons.

Until then, let’s get to the Bell.

Ricky Council IV: 12 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Council was pulled into the game early in the second period with the Sixers down by double digits and needed a spark of energy — and he absolutely brought it. He immediately breathed life into the Philadelphia offense in his first possession on the floor with a put-back dunk off a missed triple from Jared McCain. This kick-started the Sixers’ run before halftime, clawing back to within just a few points of the Rockets at halftime.

Council was seemingly all over the floor, constantly battling for the boards, and in his 10:29 on the floor in the second frame, Council had four points (2-for-2 field goals), seven rebounds and one assist.

He was back on the floor late in the third and did it again. He hit a step-back triple on one possession and immediately snagged a steal on the defensive end right after that, visibly hyping his teammates on the floor and on the bench. In the fourth, he hit a crucial timed triple with the Sixers down eight with 1:39 left, starting the push to force the game into overtime.

Council simply delivered exactly what the Sixers needed from him tonight, a boost off the bench — a boost in scoring, speed, athleticism, energy and morale. He ended up spending 26:41 on the floor in this one, finishing with a double-double of 12 points on 5-for-7 field goal shooting (2-for-3 from long range) with 10 rebounds. He also had an assist, a steal and a block.

Guerschon Yabusele: 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Yabusele remains one of the better moves of the Sixers’ offseason. He played a lot of minutes tonight, over 43 to be exact, and was a great offensive boost for the Sixers throughout, even if he kind of fell off defensively in overtime.

At halftime, Yabu along with Maxey led the Sixers with 11 points each. At the time, Yabusele was 2-for-2 from three-point range, accounting for two of the Sixers’ just three total first-half triples. They always seemed to come at the perfect time, like right when the Sixers were hovering on that line between being down by a few points and being down by double digits.

Yabusele hit another triple and a pair of field goals in the second half of regulation, and even started overtime fantastically with a triple to give the Sixers the lead…but that was quickly soured by poor defense that led to a 9-0 Rockets runs immediately after. Yabu struggled quite a bit to slow down Sengun.

But hey, let’s look at the positive. Yabusele was second to Maxey in scoring for the Sixers with 22 points Wednesday night. He shot 7-for-12 from the floor and 4-for-6 from long range — those triples were absolutely vital as he was seemingly the only Sixer who could sink a shot from long range for parts of this game. He also had seven rebounds with three on the offensive end, two assists, one steal and one block.

Andre Drummond: 6 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Drummond had one of his best games this season against the Rockets on Wednesday, especially defensively. The 31-year-old was tasked with slowing down Houston’s 22-year-old big, Alperen Sengun. He did a damn good job. Sengun was limited and stifled by Drummond’s presence and defense on more than one occasion during this one, including on the final play of regulation. The Rockets had 11.1 seconds to win the game in regulation as they relied on Sengun in isolation. Drummond stuck with him and forced him into a fadeaway that KJ Martin was able to get a piece of to block and force the game into overtime.

Drummond was also good on the boards early in a way that likely saved the Sixers from falling into an even bigger hole before their push late in the second period. He had five rebounds in the first frame, two on the offensive end. Even when his rebounding dipped a bit in the later stages of the game, Drummond remained active and engaged, immediately trying to make up for any missed boards.

Drummond finished this one with six points on 2-for-3 field goal shooting with nine rebounds (three offensive), two assists and two steals. But again, his best contribution tonight was in his great defensive effort, especially on Sengun, and won’t exactly show through on a glance at the stat sheet.

Tyrese Maxey: 39 points, 10 assists, 5 steals, 2 rebounds

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

It wasn’t the best first half from Maxey outside of a couple of really good assists, but he really came alive after the break.

After putting up 11 points in the first half, Maxey exploded for 28 in the final two frames of regulation plus overtime. He’s just gotten into a perfect rhythm of everything that makes him great: confidence on the ball, both firing silky smooth triples as well as dancing around (or even directly into) Houston defenders to finish at the rim against all odds .

His heroics in the second half came in the goal with 11 seconds left in regulation. With the ball in hand and the Sixers down three points, Maxey was able to draw a foul beyond the arc. Cool as a cucumber, he sank all three shots from the charity stripe to send the game to overtime.

From halftime to the end of regulation, Maxey scored 28 points on 9-for-17 field goal shooting and was 5-for-8 (62.5%) from long range. Remember, the Sixers had just three triples total as a team in the first half. It’s also worth mentioning how active Maxey was in creating offense through defense in the second half, with four steals in the final two regulations. Overtime wasn’t so kind to Maxey shooting-wise, as he went 0-for-3 from the floor for zero points in the final five minutes. That said, he assisted on all three of the Sixers’ field goals for all seven of the team’s points in the extended period.

The only concern is that he would have to play over 40 minutes in regulation and all five in overtime to keep the Sixers afloat. With the disarray surrounding the team right now, this is realistically the version of Maxey they need if they’re going to steal some wins here, but that number of minutes night in and night out could be an issue.

But of course that is a concern for another day.