Tyrese Maxey said LeBron James has made the Philadelphia 76ers “willing passers,” so the “ego stuff” is “going to be okay,” after a 112-106 win over the Detroit Pistons on his 26th birthday Wednesday night.
Maxey saw it on the first day of training camp. “We was moving the ball,” he said. “And I looked at Joel. I said all the ego stuff and the one ball stuff that we hear, it’s going to be okay.”
“LeBron’s here and he has made everybody willing passers,” Maxey said. “When LeBron can be a willing passer, the rest of us can too.”
Maxey was 16 during James’ Cleveland years with Kyrie Irving and said he “watched probably every playoff game that they had.” He called himself “a big Kyrie fan growing up.”
“I did learn a lot from that because LeBron does a good job of, you know, getting those guys open,” Maxey said.
He said he has been studying “old Kyrie film,” plus some Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant film, and spending time with James.
James had 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. He became the first player in NBA history with 16,000 made field goals, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 15,837.
Maxey credited competitiveness for the defense behind the 8-1 start. “A lot of guys here don’t like getting scored on,” he said.
VJ Edgecombe heard it from teammates after giving up 3-pointers to Duncan Robinson, who scored 27 on 7-of-11 shooting from deep. “It’s love, but it’s accountability, which is good,” Maxey said.
He said Edgecombe wanted the Cade Cunningham assignment. “He’s so competitive that he wants to guard him,” Maxey said.
Jaylen Brown scored a season-high 30 and blocked Cunningham’s 3-point try with 37 seconds left and Detroit down six. Maxey said the Sixers “have a guy like Jaylen Brown who can get dirty and stop the other team’s opposing guy.”
Maxey had a season-low 19 points on 5-of-16 shooting. He had scored at least 26 in every other game, and his 29-point average trails only Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry.
“I missed the pull-up. I missed a wide open three,” he said. “And I was fouling. I was hacking.”
He had just one turnover against Ausar Thompson’s full-court pressure. “Extremely great defender,” Maxey said.
Maxey said he spent the summer on his passing and late-game isolation scoring. He had seven assists. “We’re going to need it and I’ll be ready to do it,” he said.
Asked about his right pinky, Maxey said, “I’ll be fine.” He added that his fingers have looked like that “since last year.”
The Sixers’ only loss came at home against Detroit, which leads the Central Division at 6-2. “It’s a good team over there,” Maxey said. “So, anytime you can beat them, great.”
Philadelphia plays at Cleveland in an NBA Cup game Friday at 7 p.m. ET.
