We now interrupt your regularly scheduled Ben Simmons content with 76ers news that, well, doesn't involve Simmons. Isn't that a nice thought?
Thanks to the Sixers' summer league opener against the Mavericks, there was bound to be some other discussion circulating throughout the team's Twitter community on Monday afternoon, and we're happy to say that pretty much all of that discussion was positive. And for good reason: Philly destroyed Dallas by 22 points, taking the opener by a final score of 95-73. The game was never particularly close, and that was largely due to a pair of 2020 rookies who, if this game was any indication, could improve by leaps and bounds in their sophomore campaigns.
The young studs in question are point guard Tyrese Maxey and shooting guard Isaiah Joe, the team's most impactful first-year players from last season (sorry, B-Ball Paul). Maxey shined on several occasions, and his role in 2021 could grow by a substantial amount depending on what Daryl Morey can do about the Ben Simmons dilemma. Sorry, we had to mention Simmons at some point, you know? Joe, on the other hand, also had his moments from time to time, though with much less frequency.
On Monday, however, they were playing like two star teammates, and we can look to social media for a couple of those (facetious) comparisons.
And what did they do to deserve such lofty, if a little exaggerated, praise? Consider this — Maxey scored 14 points in the first quarter, Joe scored 13, and the Mavericks as a whole scored 14. What's more is that the young Sixers guards were scoring in the most fun and important way possible: a barrage of threes.
The 22-point gap between the two teams at the end of the game was pretty big, but it was smaller than we expected considering Philly had jumped out to a 26-point lead by the half. Once again, the duo of Maxey and Joe had outscored the Mavericks on their own to that point, combining for 34 points in the first half as opposed to the Mavs' 31. All in all, some of the notable 76er performances were as follows:
— Maxey: 21 points on 8-15 FG, 3-6 3Pt. FG, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals
— Joe: 15 points on 4-10 FG, 4-8 3Pt. FG, 4 rebounds
— Jaden Springer: 11 points on 4-12 FG, 1-3 3Pt. FG, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 rebound
— Paul Reed: 9 points on 4-8 FG, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 steals, 1 assist
And that, everyone, is your brief respite from the Ben Simmons saga. Now back to the rumors!
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