Tyrese Maxey complimented Nico Batum’s playmaking after the 76ers beat the Spurs.
Who’s the best inbounds passer in the NBA? It’s a very niche skill but one that Philadelphia 76ers forward Nico Batum is among the very best at. Two of his greatest pieces of work came in the Sixers’ double-overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs.
The Sixers held on to beat the Spurs as Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 52 points. Batum scored nine points on 3-7 shooting (taking all of his shots from beyond the arc) and recorded seven rebounds, three steals and two assists. The two linked up for some of the most important buckets in the game, including when Batum inbounded the ball to Maxey on a layup that tied the game at the end of regulation.
Maxey said that he and Batum have good chemistry together and that the layup that sent the game into overtime was a product of his talent.
“We have this synergy. He does a good job of knowing late clock situation and how to give me the ball,” Maxey told reporters. “We messed up one early in the game, which is funny, and it was on me. He was telling me, ‘Look, just loop around. Loop around and I’ll get it to you.’ Thankfully, he’s a great inbound passer and he got it to me.”
Maxey assisted Batum on a go-ahead triple at the end of regulation and Batum repaid the favor after Julian Champagnie, a former Sixer, hit a three-pointer that put the Spurs up by two.
Nick Nurse told reporters that the play was set up to feature a shooting threat to give Maxey an easier shot at getting to the paint, weaponizing his speed to make switches harder. Then Batum, he said “made an unbelievable pass” to get the bucket. Nurse called Batum the 76ers’ best passer and praised him for what he also brings as a defender, shooter and leader. It speaks to Batum’s passing skills that, in some games where he can’t play, he still remains active so Nurse can use him as an emergency inbounder.
Batum’s other marvelous inbounds pass from the 76ers’ win over the Spurs didn’t end up in the stat books as an assist because Kelly Oubre Jr. isn’t able to make the shot. Still, the team executed the play well and Batum made the difficult pass that it required to attempt a shot.
Nurse deserves credit for running plays that take advantage of Batum’s passing accuracy and intellect.
In the first play, Nurse turns to a common set-up on sideline-out-of-bounds (SLOB) plays where a ball-handler comes streaking in from the backcourt with a backscreen to free them up. Maxey has to zig and zag through the defense to get free but Batum lobs a marvelously placed pass that lands right in Maxey’s hands on the move.
The second play is much simpler, yet that simplicity is a major reason why it works. Wemby is guarding KJ Martin so Nurse simply has him stand away from the play. Maxey and Ricky Council IV run an elevator screen for Oubre, who San Antonio surely isn’t expecting will get the final shot of the first overtime.
Batum is rarely one to fill the box score but he still makes an elite impact on the game for the 76ers.
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