Tyrese Maxey

In a clash of titans, it was Zion Williamson left standing at the expense of Joel Embiid.

The New Orleans Pelicans superstar went off for 36 points and five rebounds against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night, leading his team to a 127-116 win.

Embiid didn't exactly roll over without a fight. The superstar center had a vintage performance of his own, putting up 37 points and eight rebounds while trying to will his team to a tough road victory.

But the one-two punch of Williamson and CJ McCollum (42 points, career- and franchise-high 11 threes) was too much to overcome.

McCollum was shooting fireballs from beyond the arc all night long:

Unsurprisingly, NBA Twitter enjoyed every moment of the showdown:

It was an incredibly impressive offensive showing from the Pelicans (23-12), especially without Brandon Ingram available because of a toe injury.

For the Sixers (20-14), meanwhile, it was a second straight loss after an impressive eight-game winning streak.

The good news for the Sixers was that star guard Tyrese Maxey returned after a lengthy layoff. The bad news was that he struggled in his return, coming off the bench to post just nine points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field in 19 minutes. Some rust was to be expected, however, after missing over a month.

It didn't help that James Harden had a particularly odd game, offering up a 20-point, 10-assist double-double but also adding seven turnovers on the evening, and he only attempted eight shots from the field.

It may not have mattered had he played better. This night clearly belonged to Zion's bulldozing drives into the lane and McCollum's sniper-scope precision. Had the Sixers played a perfect game, maybe they could have overcome that duo's offensive fireworks.

But they didn't play a perfect game, and they left New Orleans with a loss.

Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey is expected to return from his foot injury before Christmas, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday on NBA Today.

Wojnarowski reported on Nov. 19 that Maxey would miss at least three to four weeks with a fracture in his left foot suffered in a Nov. 18 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Maxey suffered the injury when he landed awkwardly on his foot while being fouled. He went on to take his two free throws but exited the game after that and did not return.

On Wednesday, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers provided an update, noting that the 22-year-old still has some work to do in order to return to the court. He said, via Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire:

"Today he ran. Still not jumping though which is a concern, but today he ran. He did not sprint, but he did run up and down the floor. He's not been able to do that. I guess the only concerning thing is he's not been able to jump yet so that would mean he's a ways away, to say the least."

If Maxey returns closer to the longer side of his three-to-four week timeline, he could be back sometime around Dec. 17. The Sixers will face the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 16 before facing the Toronto Raptors three days later.

Maxey's injury was a tough blow to the 76ers. With the Kentucky product sidelined, the team has gone 4-5, including a three-game losing streak that began with a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 30.

However, Philadelphia struggled even with Maxey in the lineup, going 8-7 to begin the year.

He was having best season, averaging 22.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 15 games while shooting 46.2 percent from the floor and 42.2 percent from deep.

The eighth-place 76ers (12-12) will need Maxey healthy if they hope to better their position in a tough Eastern Conference. That said, they aren't too far from contending for fourth place in the East, which is owned by the 14-12 Brooklyn Nets.

Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey was ruled out of Friday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center with a left foot injury.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the X-rays on Maxey's foot were negative, and he is expected to undergo an MRI on Saturday. He notched 24 points, four rebounds and five assists in 21 minutes before exiting.

Maxey appeared to suffer the injury while driving to the basket and stepping on Jevon Carter's foot in the first half. He was fouled while driving to the hoop and shot his two free throws before limping off the court and to the locker room.

Maxey is in the midst of an impressive season. He entered Friday's game averaging 22.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 14 games, all starts, while shooting 44.8 percent from the floor and 40.8 percent from deep.

The 2020 first-round pick has never missed a significant amount of time because of injury. He appeared in 61 games as a rookie during the 2020-21 season and played in 75 games (74 starts) during the 2021-22 campaign.

Losing Maxey would be a tough blow for the Sixers, who are already down two starters in James Harden (foot) and Tobias Harris (hip).

The Sixers entered Friday's game against Milwaukee ninth in the Eastern Conference with a 7-7 record and have thus far failed to meet expectations after entering the season projected to be one of the top teams in the NBA.

The Philadelphia 76ers trailed by as many as 20 points before losing 104-95 to the host Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.

This was an ugly game for the 76ers in many respects.

Philadelphia committed 17 turnovers, with Joel Embiid having seven of them.

Embiid had a good game on paper otherwise (26 points, 13 rebounds, plus-10), but opposing center Clint Capela outclassed him on this evening with 18 points and 20 rebounds in just 26 minutes (plus-24 rating). Backup big man Onyeka Okongwu (10 points, 11 boards) also helped the Hawks out-rebound the 76ers 54-45.

Elsewhere, 76ers forward Tobias Harris and guard Tyrese Maxey combined to shoot just 10-of-32 from the field (2-of-10 from three-point range). The team as a whole made just 6-of-30 three-pointers.

The Hawks also went on two separate 12-0 runs: one to cap the third quarter and another one a few minutes into the fourth.

This was a disappointing loss for a 76ers team that had just beaten the 8-3 Phoenix Suns 100-88 despite playing without James Harden (right foot tendon strain). However, the Hawks game showed how much the team misses him right now.

Twitter let its feelings known about the 76ers' performance during and after the game.

The 5-7 76ers will have a quick chance for revenge when they host the Hawks on Saturday.

The Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young, Washington Wizards' Bradley Beal and Philadelphia 76ers' Tyrese Maxey have all expressed interest in playing for Team USA in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup next summer.

Joe Vardon of The Athletic reported Tuesday all three stars confirmed their desire to help the American squad bounce back from a disappointing seventh-place finish at the 2019 World Cup while also using the tournament to help bolster their chances of being chosen for the 2024 Summer Olympics roster.

"Yes, I'm definitely open to it," Young told Vardon. "I mean, even since I was in high school, it's been my dream as a basketball player. I've tried out multiple times since I've been in high school. There's been a couple of times when I could have been on that team, and it kind of hurt my heart."

Team USA manager director Grant Hill and head coach Steve Kerr have decided to abandon the program's previous desire to get NBA stars to make a commitment to play back-to-back summers, first for the World Cup and then the Olympics, per Vardon.

Instead, they'll take each tournament individually and build out the best possible roster from the players willing to make the offseason trip.

The 2023 World Cup is being split between Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, while the 2024 Olympics are taking place in Paris. The 2021 Olympics were in Tokyo.

Team USA management is cognizant of the travel demands of that many overseas trips following the long NBA seasons and understand players may not want to make a full-time annual summer commitment.

"I've never gotten the opportunity to do a World Cup," Beal told Vardon. "As long as I'm healthy, injury-free, and there's a place for me on the team, yeah, I'll probably be there in the Philippines."

Maxey added: "I would love to play for the country. That would be cool. It's always a blessing to represent your country, play with different guys, and go out there and compete."

It will likely create a situation in which the World Cup team is filled with players who may end up on the Olympic roster fringe, depending on whether LeBron James, Stephen Curry and the rest of the American superstars opt to play in Paris.

Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen told Vardon he's yet to hear from Team USA officials, but he'd also “take a lot of pride in representing us on a stage in front of the world.”

"I understand that there's not a lot of traditional bigs like that in America, like the back-down bigs," Allen said. "Even I'm not even really like that typical, I guess, European basketball big in terms of just banging down there. But I'm here to fill a role, whatever they need, and I feel like I can fit into any role."

Finding centers who can fit the more European play style often on display in major international tournaments has been an issue for the Americans in recent years, but Allen's defensive prowess could bring a lot of value.

A lot of factors will come into play when building the roster, including what teams make deep runs in the NBA playoffs and which players are dealing with nagging injuries they will want the summer to rest, but the early buy-in sounds promising for Team USA.

The 2023 World Cup is scheduled to tip off on Aug. 25.

The Philadelphia 76ers' short-term championship ambitions rest firmly on the shoulders of James Harden, but their long-term future will undoubtedly lie with Tyrese Maxey.

HoopsHype's Michael Scotto polled 20 NBA executives to list the players on the cusp of a breakout in 2022-23. Maxey topped the group with five first-place votes, and one general manager had high praise for the young guard.

"Maxey’s going to be better than James Harden," the GM said. "He just keeps getting better and better and will be a huge reason why they have success this season."

Maxey took a massive step forward in his second season, averaging 17.5 points and 4.3 assists while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 42.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The 21-year-old guard is a big reason why the Sixers were able to maintain a top-four challenge in the Eastern Conference despite missing Ben Simmons and eventually trading him to the Brooklyn Nets.

Based on Philly's 126-117 opening-night loss to the Boston Celtics, Maxey might be hitting yet another level this year. He finished with 21 points, two assists and two steals in 38 minutes on the floor.

The Sixers certainly need him to carry that performance over because the defeat—while just one game in an 82-game season—highlighted some areas that could hold them back.

The bench combined to score 11 points, fewer than Grant Williams and Malcolm Brogdon provided individually for Boston in reserve roles. As much as the front office did to strengthen the roster depth, the offense will likely be heavily reliant on the axis of Maxey, Harden and Joel Embiid.

The Celtics also had a 24-2 scoring edge in fast-break points. The backcourt pair of Harden and Maxey can leave something to be desired on defense, making their offensive contributions all the more critical.

Beating the Celtics would have allowed the 76ers to lay down an early marker in the battle for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Nonetheless, they provided plenty of reasons to be excited about what's to come, and Maxey showed flashes of the dynamic player he can be on offense.

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers had high praise for Tyrese Maxey after a breakout second season in the NBA.

"He's the most impressive young player I've ever had in 21 years of coaching," Rivers told Vince Carter on The VC Show (2:19 in video).

"His work ethic, Vince, is beyond belief," Rivers added. "Many times already this summer, at least two or three times, we've had to tell him to go sit down somewhere and go relax."

The team had to convince Maxey to go on vacation this summer—the first vacation of his life.

Maxey averaged 8.0 points and 2.0 assists per game as a rookie after being selected 21st in the 2020 draft, but the Kentucky product made huge strides in his second season with averages of 17.5 points and 4.3 assists per game.

The 21-year-old especially thrived in the playoffs, notably scoring 38 points in the first game of Round 1 against the Toronto Raptors. He averaged 20.8 points per game in 12 postseason games, ahead of veterans James Harden and Tobias Harris while only trailing Joel Embiid for the team lead.

Philadelphia has high expectations for Maxey heading into his third season, with Rivers clearly enjoying what he's seen.

Rivers has been an NBA head coach since 1999-2000, winning 1,043 regular-season games and 104 playoff games across four different organizations. In February, he was named one of the best 15 coaches in league history.

The 60-year-old has seen a lot of elite players come and go over his time on the sidelines, which makes his comments on Maxey even more notable.