Tyrese Maxey played the basketball game of his life on Saturday night in Game 1 vs. the Raptors, exploding for 21 points in the third quarter and generally doing every single thing right. It was an unreal coming out party for a second-year player whose growth has been nothing short of mind-boggling this season.
And yet, as the clock wound towards 0:00 and Maxey was finally seated on the bench, Maxey was making fun of himself for his shortcomings.
MORE: 3 observations after 38 from Maxey in blowout Game 1 win
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After scoring 36 points in the first three quarters, Maxey sat out a good portion of the fourth as the Sixers continued to keep a safe lead on Toronto. When he checked in with 7:26 to go, he went without a shot for four minutes before hitting a floater, leaving him just two short of the 40-point mark. It was clear his teammates wanted him to get 40, as did the fans.
But he went on to miss his last two shots of the game, a daring step-back three and an 8-foot pull-up jumper, before checking out.
When he hit the bench, this was Maxey's assessment of his end-of-game execution:
How can you not love this kid? What an absolute delight.
Maxey is clearly just having so much fun out there, playing the game he loves and doing it with so much joy and talent.
NBA
The dude coming to the bench for the curtain call after playing the game of his life, in front of an adoring crowd, and going "Dammit. I suck." is maybe the funniest way for him to handle that situation.
Amazing.