The main story of the Philadelphia 76ers' 108-100 win over the Chicago Bulls was Joel Embiid, who played a great game in his return from a seven-game absence. But Tyrese Maxey also had a very notable performance, stuffing the stat sheet like he has never done before in his NBA career.
Maxey played over 42 minutes and recorded 25 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds. Not only was that the first triple-double of his career but those latter two numbers are career-highs. His previous career highs were 11 assists and 10 rebounds, each of which he set last season. This performance is also his second double-double of the season. Rarely does a player make this much personal history in a single contest.
Philly has now won four of its last five games, though it was close to letting the Bulls tie the game up in the fourth quarter after leading by as many as 17 in the third. Maxey making plays helped his squad continue to roll.
Tyrese Maxey records first triple-double in 76ers' win vs. Bulls
Maxey's 25 points came on 22 shots. He shot 3-12 from deep, which isn’t good, but made seven of his 10 shots inside the arc, which is very good. He scored 18 in the second half on 7-14 shooting. Seven of Maxey's 10 two-point attempts came around or inside the restricted arc, which showcased his aggression, speed and creativity at the rim.
Maxey made plenty of great passes throughout the day but his assist total was so gaudy in large part because of Embiid, who was dominant after a feel-out stint in the first quarter. 10 of Maxey's assists went to the big man in one of three ways.
First, the most popular option, was Embiid setting a screen and receiving it right back at the nail. The 76ers went to this over and over in the second quarter, fueling a monster run that got them ahead for good.
The second option was Embiid getting his defender deep into the paint, creating an easy entryway for a pass. This was how the big man got his first points of the afternoon.
Later in the second half, Maxey ran some dribble handoffs with Embiid. It gave Nikola Vucevic more space to cover, giving Embiid even more leverage on his jumper.
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Although Maxey's passes to Embiid were not super difficult, the chemistry he has developed with him set the stage for this game. Maxey helped Embiid and vice versa, giving the 76ers' offense much-needed structure against a pace-and-space Bulls team.
Maxey's best assist of the game was a fantastic feed to Kelly Oubre Jr. for an alley-oop. He turned the corner on the defense really well, anticipated the rotation from Oubre's defender and left the ball in the perfect spot for Oubre to get it.
All 11 of Maxey's rebounds came on the defensive end. Most of them were uncontested but he nonetheless remained strong with the ball and took right up the floor after bringing in the miss.
Embiid celebrated with Maxey as he was interviewed by NBC Sports Philadelphia, welcoming him into the triple-double club. The big man has achieved the feat seven times in his career. This could very well be the first of any for his speedy co-star.