We’ve all been loving Maxey this season especially because of the strides he’s taken as the lead guard and increased commitment to playing defense on top of that. However, the concern about him being exploited defensively has come up a number of times, especially when playing against the Celtics due to the fact he’s only 6’2 and is often tasked with guarding the opposing point guard Jrue who can score easily against him in the post simply because he’s stronger and bigger, let alone guarding the Jays. How do the Sixers mitigate this?
Jrue only took him to the post, once.(As fans, we do a terrible take of extrapolating one thing and blowing it up to be bigger then it is.). Not only was it JUST one post up, but Jrue had like TEN dribbles to get to his spot.(More dribbles=more difficulty establishing position)
The issue on that post up, wasn’t Tyrese Maxey but Melton’s nonexistent help defense. Melton was like ‘should I, or shouldn’t I’ and Jrue gets 10 unbothered dribbles into the shot.
It’s nothing to mitigate, it’s not an issue. If the Celtics think Jrue post ups are a source of offense, thats great for us. Less Tatum touches.