Nick Nurse reveals what he sees on film of Tyrese Maxey vs. Knicks

CAMDEN, N.J. -- As the Philadelphia 76ers prepare to stave off elimination against the New York Knicks in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon, they must find a way to shake Tyrese Maxey free of a stifling Knicks defense.

The Knicks have sent aggressive blitzes and traps toward Maxey all series long and it has stymied him a bit. He only attempted 12 shots in the Game 3 loss on Friday night--although, he did make eight of them--and is averaging 18.7 points on 45.5% shooting overall and 16.7% from deep through three games in this series. He also had seven assists.

As the Sixers convened for a film session on Saturday, coach Nick Nurse offered up what he's seeing on film from his star guard against New York's blitzes and traps.

"I mean, yeah, they are blitzing to them a lot, which obviously is getting the ball out of his hands," said Nurse. "I just watched some of the film with him, and he turned down a few, right? He actually usually made a really good play after he turned them down, which usually isn't the case. I mean, not on him. I mean, just in general, basketball in general, like that comes to you and you're open, and you try to go get a little greedier to usually ends up a lot worse, but, I mean, he had one, I thought he was wide open, and he blew by the closeout. I think he got an And-1, for instance."

To Nurse's point, sure, the Knicks are forcing the ball out of Maxey's hands--and they're doing a great job of it--but Maxey is making the right play. He did so in Friday's Game 3 loss. The issue is, the Sixers couldn't knock down the open shots he generated for them. As the series continues, Philadelphia is going to need him to shoot the ball more, but as log as he makes the right play, Nurse will take it.

"There was some other ones, I think, he probably could have stepped into rather than moving them onto the corner, which, again, was another good shot," Nurse continued. "I think again, it’s stuff that I've talked about before. I mean, he’s got to get some more in transition, right? I think anytime that I've been a heavy blitzer on a player, they tend to try to get the ball up quickly and get something up before two can get on you."

The Sixers will be looking to get more out of Maxey the rest of the way, but Nurse is correct. When looking back at Game 3, the offense is being executed at a high level. They just weren't converting on those opportunities. He is making the right plays, but just hasn't been able to get going with his own offense. There's a give and take there.