Prior to tipoff, both Nick Nurse & Doc Rivers sat down across from media to tee up the game. Availability questions, particularly Joel Embiid’s were of note at the time. However, in these 2-game sets we get a chance to hear coaches reflect on the other team with a bit more clarity. Tyrese Maxey & Pascal Siakam were, of course, at the front of everyone’s minds, as they had combined for 51 points and 19 assists the game before. Not to mention a playoff series against one another where both found plenty of spotlight.
“Maxey needs a game plan, we found out.” said Nurse, who kept things relatively short as his mind was somewhat occupied with James Harden and Embiid, but Maxey came up once again: “He’s way up there, yeah. He’s really gotten better. Obviously he’s got that athletic ability and tremendous speed and quickness, but his ability to finish it going a hundred miles an hour, and his ability to shoot, and shoot it from deep, and just the way he plays and carries himself, plays with composure, plays with toughness, competes — he’s really good.” All this, before Maxey erupted for a career-high 44 points on 15-20 shooting. No matter what Maxey becomes (even if he makes the HOF), we just saw one of the best performances of a career.
“He’s a tough cover.” Rivers said of Siakam pre-game. “I count the last seven games — six in the playoffs and this one — he’s played pretty well in six of them.” Siakam who is in all the early MVP talks, and is as of now averaging 25.3 ppg/9.2 rbs/7.7 ast with a usage-percentage just under 30-percent and a true shooting-percentage of 57-percent. All while he’s been asked to guard the likes of Donovan Mitchell, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, and Maxey on one end, and absorbing tidal waves of defensive attention on the other.
Siakam, the MVP candidate. Maxey, the young breakout star. 6’9″ and 6’2″. They’re very different. However, I see them mining similar skills for success.
Once upon a time, before defenses had heart attacks at the sight of Siakam in single coverage, he was the whirling dervish who played in space with incredible agility and had the touch to guide every type of one handed shot into the rim. In years 2 and 3, Siakam shot north of 71-percent at the rim and over 40-percent in the short mid-range. He was a foil for teams that overloaded on Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and then finally, Kawhi Leonard. Such a gifted athlete when it came to movement and touch, that a defense in rotation was hardly defense at all. Maxey, the foil to teams that overload on Harden and Embiid – as he continues to illustrate against the Raptors. There are trade offs, of course — Maxey is quicker, a better shooter and Siakam has more size for contested stuff at the bucket — but I can’t help but see similarities between the two of them when I’ve seen both burst downhill, squeeze through impossible holes, emerge on the other side for ridiculously soft finishes, and unleash terror in the open court – transition or otherwise.
I got greedy, and I asked Siakam after the game if he saw any similarities between he and Maxey, seeing as they both built their games from unique movement and touch. He laughed at me: “(Laughs) Hey, I didn’t look like him today. I mean how many 3’s did he have. I wish I could look like that. I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you to be honest. I mean he’s his own player. He’s special. He’s fast. He does things his way and I do things my way. Credit to him today though. He went crazy.”
It’s difficult to express the type of similarities I’m talking about (how they are of course different, but have similar building blocks) without coming across like: “hey, you’re the same player” in that setting, unfortunately. Some day I’ll sit down with Siakam and we can nerd out on this stuff – the stuff that really makes players unique. On some level, I want to know if players marvel at this stuff the way we do, or if we exist in a middle ground they rarely occupy; viewing the game at a depth most can’t access, or honestly, rarely interacting with the NBA as a fan. JJ Redick and DeMar DeRozan both loudly claimed a lot of players don’t care to watch basketball. Okay, sidebar over.
The similarities again, quickly: Kinetic savants, the both of them. Whether Siakam is deftly side-stepping one of the greatest defenders of all time on his way to the championship winning bucket in Game 6 of the Finals, or Maxey is winding through two big men before laying in a reverse – they find a way. Heavy volume and proficiency in the short mid-range that is largely dealt by one handed push shots. If Siakam had never made the star jump? The similarities would keep piling on, but all the attention paid to Siakam made their paths diverge; and all the attention that Maxey continues to accrue will continue to polarize it further.
Maxey will never have Siakam’s size though, and as we’ve seen, Siakam’s mobility and touch are particularly dangerous as a walking mismatch. As for Siakam, his touch has never been remotely as potent as Maxey’s from outside. He’s working through a hitch at times, troubles at the free throw line, and some hesitancy. Maxey just came off a season where he was one of the few NBA players to hit above 40-percent on both pull-up and catch-and-shoot threes.
The growth of their skills, plus their size create the terms for how they target stardom. Maxey, handling at the point of attack to turn a defense, then moving sleekly off-ball to relocate and rain death from 3 or punch a gap and pressure the rim. If he’s really feeling it? Spamming the pick n’ roll where his speed allows him to turn corners, his touch allows him to beat a drop with floaters, or pull from 3 against someone sinking. Siakam, calmly assessing his options, knowing that his size, touch, footwork, and vision will allow him a multitude of advantages; he can drift, parallel park, or hit the gas to any spot on the floor he likes.
Siakam was correct, by the way, when he said he didn’t look like Maxey yesterday. The manifestations of their skills are confronted by defenses and the answers start to change. The similarity is this: they both turn the court into a playground. I can’t wait to see what games they play going forward.
Have a blessed day.
