Nick Nurse urges Tyrese Maxey: “He should shoot even more”

Dec 5, 2025 4:22 PM

Before Thursday’s matchup with Golden State, Tyrese Maxey was putting together one of the strongest scoring starts in 76ers history.

As Tony Jones of The Athletic noted, his 649 points through 20 games trailed only Allen Iverson’s 681 in 2005–06 and Wilt Chamberlain’s 661 in 1965–66 among the best early-season stretches ever by a Sixer.

Maxey also led the league in both minutes (40.2) and field-goal attempts (23.1) during that span, and head coach Nick Nurse has encouraged him to take on even more offensive responsibility.

“What did he take, 26 shots tonight?” Nurse said after Tuesday’s win. “He should shoot even more. That’s the big thing. Nobody is stopping him from doing what he wants to do.”

On Thursday, Maxey responded by taking 27 shots, making 13 of them, going 5-for-5 at the line, and finishing with 35 points to push his average to 32.6 PPG.

But the defining moment came on defense, when he chased down De’Anthony Melton at the buzzer to block a potential game-winner and secure a 99–98 victory for Philadelphia.

“The block was amazing,” Joel Embiid said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “I almost forgot where we actually made the game-winning layup. I had to ask after. I was like, ‘Wait, who made a game-winning layup?’ That’s how good the block was.”