Maxey's heroics sealed a thrilling win, but a 24-point collapse raises serious questions about coaching and future changes.
The Philadelphia 76ers have finally managed to win two games in a row for the first time in seemingly forever as they picked up a much-needed victory over the Golden State Warriors. The last sequence of the game was quite exciting and frankly one of the craziest ending sequences of a game that we've seen in a while.
A missed Tyrese Maxey mid-range jumper turned into a VJ Edgecombe put-back to take the lead. Then, on the final play of the game, former Sixer De'Anthony Melton had a look at a quick bucket for the win, but Maxey raced down the court and denied his attempt.
That said, while this sequence was very exciting, this game should've never gotten to this point. Philly was up by 24 points at one point in this game, and they were sitting comfortably up by 18-20 points for most of the game after an incredible first quarter.
Even going into the fourth quarter, they had a 14-point lead, and the game looked as good as over. Unfortunately for the Sixers, however, the Warriors would go on a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter and they had an incredible victory in their sights.
While Edgecombe and Maxey made sure that a Golden State victory didn't transpire, this was a very ugly loss, and some serious conversations about Nick Nurse need to be had. This is just another example of how poorly he's coached this season, and it's becoming clear that his players have been bailing him out for the most part.
There's a ton of talent on this roster, and a crumble like this in the fourth quarter shouldn't happen under any circumstances. That said, the Warriors were without both Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, making the circumstances much worse than one might think.
As the Sixers look onto their matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks tomorrow night, they're going to have to take a long, hard look in the mirror. Right now, they're not playing to the standard that they should be, and I do think that a big reason for that is Nurse.
Is this mediocrity something that they are content with playing like for the rest of the season, or will they finally fix the issues that have been haunting them all season? Regardless of whether this includes firing Nurse or not, some changes have to be made.
This Bucks game would be a huge victory for Philadelphia as they would have won three straight games for the first time since their first three games of the season. After the inconsistency shown over the last few weeks, at least a little run is going to be needed to reassert themselves as a top team in the Eastern Conference.