The NBA Eastern Conference Finals will feature the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. The two teams have gone back-and-forth throughout the playoffs, with neither team yet emerging as a clear winner. This is not to say that both franchises are still toiling in obscurity; they each boast stars such as Jayson Tatum of the Celtics and Joel Embiid of Sixers.
The “nba playoffs 2022 predictions” is a blog that provides the latest NBA playoff predictions, odds and analysis. The blog has been around since 2017 and has become one of the most popular basketball blogs on the internet.
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ESPN’s Tim Bontemps
WHILE THE NBA WAITED FOR THE OFFSEASON’S BIGGEST STORY, Doc Rivers of the Philadelphia 76ers pondered the future of a point guard who wasn’t called Ben Simmons.
Rivers made a big statement when he met with his coaches to discuss lineups ahead of the 2021-22 season:
Maxey, Tyrese was supposed to start for the 76ers regardless of what transpired with Simmons.
“That was received with a sigh of relief, as if to say, ‘How are we going to start him with Ben?’” During last week’s practice, Rivers remarked. “And I responded, ‘I’m not sure, but he’s getting started.’”
Maxey had only played 15.3 minutes a game as a rookie, but he had shown glimpses of promise in the past, including a 39-point, 44-minute outburst in January, when four 76ers starters were forced to sit out due to COVID-19 health and safety rules. Four months later, in the 2020-21 regular-season finale, he scored 30 points in 35 minutes.
However, making the transition to full-time starting point guard for a club with high-profile veterans, championship hopes, and the league’s largest scandal hovering over it was a major step.
When expected, there were plenty of growing pains as the season started.
“Nothing except ‘Tyrese!’ could be heard. Tyrese, what the heck is going on!’” Georges Niang, a 76ers forward, imitated Rivers’ voice.
“And you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Man, is this kid going to fold?’”
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He didn’t do it. And, despite avoiding Rivers’ early-season criticism, Maxey has emerged as a fan favorite as well as a key player with Joel Embiid and James Harden.
Maxey, who has bursts of speed and intensity as well as a historically improved jump shooting, might decide exactly how high the 76ers’ ceiling can be lifted as they sit one victory away from reaching the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“My aim was to become one percent better every single day,” Maxey says in his departure interview from last season. “I stayed with it throughout the summer.”
What’s the end result? Maxey has progressed from a sparkplug rookie to a dangerous offensive threat that opponents can’t afford to overlook.
Maxey’s position in ESPN’s 25-under-25 rankings
FEW GUARDS ARE FASTER AT GETTING TO THE BASKET THAN Maxey. The issue was what he did after he arrived.
Maxey used to throw up awkward floaters every time he reached the lane as a rookie, a practice on which he and Rivers thought the 6-foot-2 guard was much too dependent.
“I always felt, oh, I’m going to have my shot blocked if I get in there,” Maxey adds.
“But then I just kept doing it, and I understood that if I can get to the rim, I’m athletic enough, and I’ve got enough touch, it’ll probably go in.”
As a result, Maxey went to school. Maxey spent most of the summer studying two of the finest small inside scorers in recent NBA history, despite growing up idolizing another explosive combo guard in Dwyane Wade.
Maxey, Tyrese is a big reason why the 76ers are only one victory away from reaching the Eastern Conference playoffs. Getty Images/Tim Nwachukwu
Tony Parker had a floater, but he could also go to the rim and put the ball on the backboard in places where the big couldn’t grab it, according to Maxey. “After that, Kyrie [Irving] researched the locations on the backboard where you can spin it and it’ll fall in.”
Now, according to ESPN Stats & Information, Maxey is finding success attacking the rim from every angle. And while he’s going to his floater 4% less than last season, his 72 makes through this regular season and playoffs still rank among the top 10 leaguewide.
During the regular season, Maxey shot 60.5 percent on layups and dunks, up from 54.7 percent in 2020-21. In the playoffs, he’s been unstoppable, shooting 13-for-13 from the restricted area.
“Because he’s so quick, he gets to the top of the rim before your assistance arrives,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said on Sunday. “He’s definitely got a lot of the offensive package going.”
That package would be incomplete without a significant improvement in Maxey’s jump shot. That meant a lot of repetitions from beyond the arc this summer.
“I’d get up and go to the gym,” Maxey explains. “I’d be the first one in the gym at 6 a.m., and I’d attempt to hit 700 to 800 shots. Then I’d go lift, and then I’d come back at 10 a.m. and do it all over again.”
That grueling offseason has paid off handsomely.
| Player | Catch & shoot | Dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble |
|---|---|---|
| Bane, Desmond | 44.0% | 43.1% |
| Mike Conley is a professional basketball player. | 40.7% | 40.9% |
| Tyrese Haliburton is a character in the film Tyrese Haliburton | 42.8% | 40.7% |
| Irving, Kyrie | 40.5% | 43.5% |
| Maxey, Tyrese | 44.9% | 40.3% |
| (each try must be at least 100 points) | ||
Maxey improved from last season’s 30 percent on 1.7 3-point attempts per game to 42.7 percent on nearly four tries per game in 2021-22.
Since the NBA introduced the 3-point line in the 1979-80 season, only two other players — Allan Houston and Todd Day — saw their percentages jump by at least 12% on such a dramatic increase in attempts, per ESPN Stats & Information research.
The season it occurred for Houston and Day was 1994-95, when the NBA reverted to a 22-foot 3-point line, making Maxey the only player in NBA history to have made such a leap from the conventional 3-point line.
Maxey also shot 44.9 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s this season, which was good for sixth best among the 175 players who tried at least 150 of them.
“It affects the dynamic of their squad,” Raptors player Fred VanVleet said last week of Maxey, who has increased his scoring average from 8.0 to 17.5 points per game since his rookie season.
“Anytime you have a player with that sort of speed and agility who has developed into a very terrific shooter, it affects the floor space, the balance, and the way they operate, and it frees up Joel and James.”
Late in the third quarter of Game 1 against the Raptors, as HARDEN DRIBBLED up the left side of the court and inspected the defense, he saw a blur in a blue jersey racing behind Toronto’s retreating defense.
Harden hit Maxey with a dime, a two-handed cross-court bounce that he launched and soared to the opposite side of the basket to execute a left-handed reverse layup while dodging a block attempt by pursuing Pascal Siakam.
Maxey’s breakthrough playoff performance — and season — was immortalized by what began as a standard transition break.
Maxey, Tyrese’s rise has given the 76ers one of the most exciting big threes of the 2022 NBA playoffs. AP Photo/Matt Slocum
Harden remarked of Maxey’s 2021-22 following his 38-point Game 1 performance, “I noticed progress.” “I witnessed him go from being up-and-down and not getting consistent minutes in the playoffs last year to starting and playing a major part on a championship-contending team this year.”
Maxey, 21, has progressed from a rookie who was considered as a fascinating component of the 76ers’ future — and was periodically reported as a potential trade target — to a key player seen as untouchable in the Harden-Simmons trade talks.
Harden’s excellent passing, along with Embiid’s defensive focus, has allowed Maxey to flourish in ways few in the NBA could have predicted.
Maxey is on a road to ensure the 76ers have one of the league’s most intriguing big threes as they go ahead, presumably with Harden obtaining a rich new long-term deal this summer that would carry him into his late 30s.
That hasn’t stopped Rivers from grumbling now and again, mainly about Maxey’s defense, which is still a work in progress, but the current and future 76ers guard has won the respect of opposing defenses, coaches, and teammates.
“If it were up to me, he’d definitely be the league’s Most Improved Player,” Embiid said before the playoffs began, “[given] everything he’s achieved and the circumstances we’ve been in all year.”
“I’ve always been certain that it will pay off.”
The “nba playoffs 2022 scores” is a future event that will be happening in 2022. The NBA playoffs are scheduled to start on April 1, 2020 and end on June 15, 2022.
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