Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey’s instant reactions to 76ers’ playoff heartbreak vs. Knicks

There was no throwing under the bus for Joel Embiid. He lauded his team for doing their best even though major changes may be coming for a 76ers team that’s going to be flush with cap space this offseason.

“They got a lot of decisions to be made. But I think the group of guys that we had this year, they were amazing. I still believe that if everything went right, we had a chance. But everything didn’t go right,” Embiid added.

As long as Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey are around, the 76ers have a legitimate at shot at competing for a championship. It’ll be interesting to see how the front office maneuvers this offseason and whether they could give Embiid his best shot at competing yet.

Tyrese Maxey’s breakout season for the 76ers comes to a close

Tyrese Maxey was a popular breakout pick amid all the James Harden drama, and for good reason; Maxey was already a fringe All-Star as the third banana during the 2022-23 season, and all he did was improve. He ended up winning the Most Improved Player award, and he was carrying the 76ers on his back at times during their bloodbath of a series against the Knicks.

Maxey may not have had the best Game 6; he shot just 6-18 for 17 points, a far cry from the all-time great performance he put up in Game 5 when he dropped 46 points, including a bonkers three-pointer from the logo to tie the game. But no one can ever be mad at Maxey for overcoming all the adversity he did this season, and the 76ers now have two legitimate superstars to build around.

In the end, all Tyrese Maxey could do was applaud the Knicks for being the team that pulled out a back-and-forth series that ended up with the 76ers only trailing by one in the series’ cumulative points total.

“I think that’s one of the closest series I’ve been in my young career. That was a well-fought series. Hats off to them. Those guys, they made big-time shots. Josh Hart made big-time shots in Game 1. He made big-time shots in Game 6. Got the ball to Jalen Brunson’s hands in the end, and he hit a big one,” Maxey said.