Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. After the release of last night’s College Football Playoff rankings, I think everyone’s rooting interest in the ACC championship game should be clear. You simply have to pull for Duke so that two Group of 5 teams make the field.
In today’s SI:AM:
1️⃣ Penultimate CFP rankings
🤠 Mavericks at a crossroads
🏈 50 best looming NFL free agents
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The Sixers’ budding star
Tyrese Maxey is off to one of the best starts to a season of any player in 76ers franchise history. And it’s a good thing, too. The Sixers could really use the help.
Maxey dropped 35 points in Philadelphia’s 121–102 win over the Wizards on Tuesday night. That gives him a total of 649 points in the team’s first 20 games of the season, the third-highest total in franchise history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain (661 points in 1965) and Allen Iverson (681 points in 2005). Joel Embiid exceeded 660 points in his first 20 games of two different seasons (2022 and ’23) but on both occasions did not play in all of the Sixers’ first 20 games, as Maxey, Chamberlain and Iverson did.
Maxey has also scored at least 20 points in every game this season, making him the second player in franchise history to do so in the team’s first 20 games. Iverson holds the record at 21. (Embiid scored 20-plus points in 33 straight games to open the 2023–24 season but missed 10 games during that span.)
Maxey has carried the Sixers over the first quarter of the season while injuries to the team’s other stars have kept Philadelphia from reaching its full potential. Embiid has played only seven games this season, and Paul George has appeared in only six. Sunday’s double-overtime loss to the Hawks was the first time this season that the Sixers’ big three of Embiid, George and Maxey shared the floor.
Despite the injuries to Embiid and George, the Sixers have managed to keep their head above water. They’re currently 11–9, good for ninth in the Eastern Conference. That wouldn’t be possible without Maxey playing as well as he has been. In the absence of the Sixers’ more established stars, Maxey has repeatedly taken control of games when his team needed him most. He’s one of only four players in the NBA this season to score at least 35 points eight times.
Tuesday’s win was just the latest example of Maxey putting the team on his back. The Wizards, fresh off their impressive win over the Bucks the night before, had cut Philadelphia’s lead to five points with nine minutes left in the third quarter before Maxey turned the tide. He scored 20 points in the quarter, all in the final 8:34, as the Sixers ended the period on a 35–16 run to put the game out of reach. Philadelphia led 101–77 at the start of the fourth, allowing coach Nick Nurse to rest his top players.
“Yeah, that stretch alone, he put the game away,” George said of Maxey’s outburst in the third. “He just had his imprint over it. From [the] steal, getting out, creating offense for himself, creating offense for us, big shots. And you can see that he was just in a rhythm and a flow, and he took over.”
Last season was a nightmare for the Sixers. Embiid only played 19 games, George played 41 and Maxey played 52 before a finger injury ended his season in early March. That trio shared the floor for less than 300 combined minutes as Philadelphia limped to a 24–58 finish, its fewest wins since going 10–72 in 2015–16 during the depths of Sam Hinkie’s “Process.” Thanks to Maxey’s heroics, though, the Sixers are competitive again. With George and Embiid having recovered from the injuries that sidelined them earlier in the season, there’s reason to be cautiously optimistic about Philadelphia’s chances of competing for a playoff spot. It’s tough to count on George and Embiid to remain available, but at least the Sixers know they have a budding star in Maxey who can pick up the slack when the veterans are out.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Pat Forde breaks down why Alabama’s rise in the latest College Football Playoff rankings makes zero sense.
- Bryan Fischer dives into the ACC’s worst-case playoff scenario and how the numbers now tilt firmly against the conference.
- Albert Breer details how the New England Patriots have adopted coach Mike Vrabel’s trademark style. He also has notes on Giants rookie pass rusher Abdul Carter, Dallas’s line and more.
- Injuries and a front-office shakeup have pushed the Mavericks to a make-or-break moment. Chris Mannix explains what’s next.
- The 2026 NFL free-agent class lacks star power, but Gilbert Manzano and Matt Verderame say there’s plenty of upside in their ranking of the 50 best players set to be available in the offseason.
- The United States Men’s National Team lands a brutal but intriguing group in SI’s mock draw. Max Mallow dissects what it could mean for the team’s 2026 World Cup hopes.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. A pair of clutch plays by Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes to seal the Raptors’ win over the Blazers.
4. Cristian Romero’s bicycle kick in stoppage time to salvage a draw for Tottenham against Newcastle.
3. Anthony Edwards’s layup to force overtime against the Pelicans. The Timberwolves went on to win, 149–142.
2. Brady Tkachuk’s no-look assist to Artem Zub.
1. Predators winger Ozzy Wiesblatt’s emotional reaction to scoring his first career goal. It came against his hometown Flames, months after his older brother, Orca, died in a car accident.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Tyrese Maxey Is Keeping the Sixers Afloat .
