New recurring feature here on PhillyVoice from yours truly! Every Monday going forward, I'll pick a Philly sports figure who "won" the previous week. What's the credential for winning? Well, it's ultra-subjective, akin to the way NBA writers can somehow pick Nikola Jokic for MVP in back-to-back years. I guess I should make up stats like they do with LEBRON and RAPTOR? Performances from the previous Monday through Sunday make these players, coaches or executives eligible.
The first winner is one of the easiest decisions I've ever made, like waking up every day and going for iced coffee even if it's 20 degrees out. Tyrese Maxey, the sophomore wonder for the Sixers, went off in the team's first postseason game, dropping 38 on the Raptors' heads.
Maxey's numbers this week: Stat line: 1 game, 38 minutes played, 38 points, 14/21 from the field, 5/8 from deep, 5/5 from the line, four rebounds, two assists, ZERO turnovers and a BIG win.
My qualifications:
MAXEY rating (Maximum Amusement over Expected Youth): 5 🔔s out of 5
Maxey, only turning 21 earlier this season, is improving at wild rate. He went from a seldom used, yet talented, bench guard in 2021 to playing like the real second star next to Joel Embiid in 2022. It's mind-blowing that he wasn't even nominated for Most Improved Player this season.
He's the youngest Sixers player ever to drop 30 in a playoff game. He's the third-youngest NBA player ever to have at least 38 points in a playoff game, trailing Magic Johnson, who had 42 in a Finals-clinching win over the Sixers in 1980, and LeBron James, who did so three separate times. Maxey's 38 are the third-highest point total for the Sixers in the post-Process era behind 40-point and 38-point efforts Embiid put up against Atlanta last summer. Maxey's five made threes are tied for the fifth-most ever by a Sixer in a playoff game. That likely says more about the sorry state of the franchise during the 21st century, but Maxey deserves props regardless. Allen Iverson has the top mark with eight made threes back in 2001, a game that coincidentally was against the Raptors.
All numbers via stathead/basketball-reference.
JAR rating (Juice Above Replacement): 380 percent
Long time consumers of my work are familiar with JAR. Eagles running back Boston Scott is the Jokic of JAR to put it in perspective. The highest single-play JAR of all time is Patrick Robinson's pick-6 against the Vikings in the 2017 NFC Championship Game.
Maxey has a demeanor beyond his years. He's the smoothest Sixers player since Iverson. Whether he's launching threes from the Dietz & Watson logo or hitting floater after floater in the paint, the dude just oozes cool. Embiid quickly endeared himself as one of the most beloved athletes in Philly history. An unexpected run to the Finals with Maxey playing out of his mind like this will have the Kentucky product on Jo-Jo's heels. The kid's got juice. That's undeniable.
VIBES (Value over Implied Basketball Energy in Stadium): ✅
VIBES is a yes-or-no stat. Someone either has it or they don't. Pretty simple. Maxey plays on a team with the should-be MVP, a guy who's the best big man on the planet and one of the most-skilled centers in NBA history. Even with that 7'2" figure hulking over everything in the Philly sports scene, it was Maxey whose name was getting chanted by the Sixers faithful on Saturday night:
Runner-up this week: Phillies slugger Nick Castellanos
In 30 plate appearances across seven games, Castellanos hit .400 with an on-base percentage of .500 and a slugging percentage of .640 while scoring four runs and driving in three.
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