Tyrese Maxey, Sixers react to the final possession in loss to Pistons

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers had a chance down by three in the final seconds against the East-leading Detroit Pistons. Coach Nick Nurse called timeout with 16.9 seconds left after Pistons star Cade Cunningham gave Detroit a 3-point lead to draw up a play to get the Sixers a little closer.

What ensued was chaos. It appeared the Sixers wanted to get Kelly Oubre Jr. going downhill, but the Pistons cut that off he threw it back to Quentin Grimes. Philadelphia then tried to run some dribble hand-offs to try and get an open look before Tyrese Maxey flung up a prayer at the buzzer that wasn't answered. The Sixers fell 111-108 to a tough Pistons team.

"Hand back to Kelly, give him a driving opportunity," Maxey explained. "They kinda switched it, we got stuck, and at that point, it was late. We couldn't really drive it to get 2 to start fouling. We just tried to get a 3 up at that point."

First off, credit to Pistons defense at the end there.

Second, I'm really not sure what the Sixers' plan was. Looks like maybe they were going for a quick 2 from Kelly Oubre off the Andre Drummond screen from the inbound?

Whatever the plan was, it seemingly fell apart fast. pic.twitter.com/2ckz10s2BD— Erin Grugan (@eringrugan) November 10, 2025

Nurse echoed Maxey's sentiment. It was obvious that the Sixers were trying to go for the quick 2, but were unfortunately not able to get anything going toward the basket. The Pistons deserve credit for closing off driving lanes which then led to the Maxey shot.

"Well, we were trying to get downhill and get the quick 2," Nurse explained. "I thought we had plenty of time to not hunt down a 3, but again, it looked like we had a little bit of a bobble of the ball and it kinda turned into whatever it was gonna turn into."

The Sixers have now lost three of their last four with the Boston Celtics looming on Tuesday. Philadelphia held a 13-point lead in the third quarter and looked like it had enough momentum to carry it to the finish line, but the Pistons deserve credit. They entered on a 5-game winning streak and they got the job done on the road. The Sixers now get back to the drawing board.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Tyrese Maxey, Sixers react to the final possession in loss to Pistons