Ever since the Ben Simmons trade, James Harden and his new 76ers have been balling out. The ‘Beard’ has regained his scoring prowess, while Embiid continues to dominate his opposition. However, there is a third star who has been on fire. This is none other than Tyrese Maxey. In the 76ers latest outing, Maxey put on a show scoring 25 points, with 21 of them in the second half.

Although Maxey had an inspirational performance, things were not heading in the right direction in the first half since he had only 4 points. In light of his second half dominance, Maxey explained how Harden pushed him to play harder with some Jordanesque tough love.

Tyrese Maxey on James Harden

In the post-game interview, Maxey revealed how Harden’s words pushed him towards a second half ‘offensive explosion.’ 

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“Oh well, James came up to me asked me if I was going to play today and I told him ‘Yeah’,” said Maxey.

Furthermore, Maxey explained his teammates pushed him to play harder. This allowed him to realize that he cannot play long segments of the game with a ‘passive’ style of play. Clearly, the bluntness and brutality of Harden’s statement inspired a heroic second half from the rising star. There was no stopping him as the 76ers ousted the Knicks by 15 points.

The Michael Jordan Treatment

The blunt remark from Harden towards Maxey is actually very much like Michael Jordan. As revealed in the ‘Last Dance’ TV series, Jordan used pure brutality to ask his teammates to play better. This was his way of pushing them towards playing better for the team. At the time, his teammates did not realize the value of his statements, but they paid off in the end.

The Bulls won six titles, and although MJ is highly credited for it, basketball is still a team sport. So it’s important to have your team’s roster playing at their highest possible level.

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So maybe, this is the same tactic that Harden employed to push Maxey to be better, and it paid off! Furthermore, the young Maxey can use this incident to better his performances as the regular season winds down. In all likelihood, the Sixers are going to make the playoffs. So it is essential that they have all hands on deck.

More importantly, it is also required that each player plays his best. So maybe tough love is the answer. Regardless, Harden, like MJ, just wants the best for his team, and that includes Maxey too.