NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers returned Tyrese Maxey on Tuesday from a 4-game absence after suffering a concussion in the March 3 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Maxey traveled with the team to Brooklyn on March 5, but the Sixers sent him home after concussion symptoms developed.
Maxey had 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting and hit three triples in his return. Coach Nick Nurse was happy to have his star guard back, but he also acknowledged it wasn’t his best night.
“He was fine, wasn’t he?” »The nurse then said. “I think it’s good to get him out. Make it, make it go. I thought he was fine. Not much impact on the defensive end, but that’s okay. At least he’s back playing.
The nurse is not wrong. Maxey struggled defending Knicks All-Star Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo on the perimeter. All he needs is to be able to find his legs and his breath to reinsert himself into things.
“Pretty good,” Maxey said. “I felt pretty good. I was really tired when I first went out. My wind. It’s a little difficult because, like, we couldn’t do much where we ended up in the protocol, but uh, overall, everything was fine.
For Maxey to return to the court, the All-Star guard had to go through concussion protocols. He had to go through five steps to clear the protocols and get back on the field.
“It was a lot of different steps,” Maxey said. “I was training alone, one-on-one, and then I was able to do a full-contact workout and had to run on the treadmill. It was hard. It was the first time I had a concussion and I never knew what it felt like. It was a strange feeling, a very strange feeling, but I’m happy to be back with my guys.
The interesting part of this whole situation was that when Maxey left in the win against the Mavericks, he was allowed back into the game. The symptoms were good for his return, but they appeared when the Sixers arrived in Brooklyn.
“I think I really started feeling symptoms after the game, like when I was eating with my family,” added Maxey, a Dallas native. “I was sitting there and I felt like my balance was off and my mom was talking to me and I was talking back, but she was kind of going in one ear and out the other. Then the next morning we traveled and I was still feeling a little foggy. Then we went to Barclays (Central) and I said something was wrong.
Now that Maxey is back on the court, he just needs to get back on his feet as Philadelphia heads to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks.
