Dyson Daniels vs. Tyrese Maxey: A Defensive Duel in a Game of Inches
There’s a reason Dyson Daniels is starting to turn heads across the league - and it’s not just the nickname. “The Great Barrier Thief” has become more than a clever play on his Australian roots.
It’s a reflection of the kind of perimeter defense that makes opposing guards second-guess their every dribble. Sunday night against Tyrese Maxey?
That was the full Dyson Daniels experience - the kind of gritty, grinding defensive effort that doesn’t always show up in the box score but leaves a lasting impression on anyone watching closely.
From the opening tip, Daniels was locked in as the first line of resistance against Maxey, one of the NBA’s fastest-rising offensive stars. It was a battle of contrast: Maxey, 6-foot-2 and lightning quick, against the 6-foot-7 Daniels, all limbs and leverage.
And from the jump, Daniels knew what was coming - screens, and lots of them. Whether it was Joel Embiid, Andre Drummond, Adem Bona, or even one of Philly’s guards like Jared McCain or Quentin Grimes, someone was always lurking, waiting to spring Maxey free.
That’s the modern NBA in a nutshell. You don’t just beat the man in front of you - you force the defense to make uncomfortable choices.
Trap? Hedge?
Switch? Each decision opens a window, and Maxey is the kind of player who knows how to climb through it.
The Hawks, under head coach Quin Snyder, typically prefer to switch in those situations. But Daniels? He’s not wired that way.
“Dyson won’t,” Snyder said before the game, “because he cares so much about the guy he’s guarding.”
That’s not stubbornness - it’s pride. Daniels wants the challenge.
He wants the smoke. And when you’ve got a first-team All-Defensive nod under your belt, a league-leading steals title, and last season’s Most Improved Player award, you’ve earned the right to take that challenge head-on.
“I would love to keep my matchup as much as I can,” Daniels said before tipoff. “I like taking that challenge.”
And what a challenge it was. Maxey poured in 44 points, a stat line that tells one story - but not the whole one.
He missed 11 of his 13 three-point attempts, but hit the one that mattered most, a clutch triple in the dying seconds of regulation that tied the game and sent it to overtime. He was relentless, especially down the stretch, scoring 24 of his 44 points in the final 15 minutes and change - a stretch that included three and-ones and that dagger three.
But here’s the thing: Daniels never stopped coming. He fought over screens.
He stayed in front. He made Maxey work.
And in a league where “good defense” often just means making a guy hit a tough shot instead of an easy one, Daniels did his job. Maxey just made shots.
That’s life in the NBA.
“Good offense beats good defense any time,” Daniels said afterward. “People make tough shots. It’s just, how tough can you make the shots?”
That’s the ethos of an elite defender - and Daniels is quickly becoming one of the league’s best. His stat line was solid: 17 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, two steals.
But his real value came in those moments that don’t show up in the box score - the possessions where he fought through an Embiid screen, stayed attached to Maxey’s hip, and forced a turnover or a miss. In one second-quarter stretch, Daniels blew up three straight possessions by simply refusing to be screened.
Still, Maxey found ways to break through. That’s what stars do.
He finished 14-of-31 from the field, 14-of-17 from the line, and dished out nine assists - though he also turned it over six times. Daniels made him uncomfortable, but Maxey kept coming.
“Dyson’s really good,” Maxey said postgame. “He’s really good.”
That’s not lip service. That’s respect. And it’s echoed by teammates and opponents alike.
“He’s just solid,” said Grimes. “He just moves his feet really well, he’s got great hands and he gets his hands on a lot of steals, a lot of passing lanes.
He’s a great on-ball defender and team defender. Usually you see either one or the other.”
That’s the rare air Daniels is starting to breathe - the kind of two-way defensive presence who can lock in on a top scorer while still playing within the team concept. And with that growing reputation comes a new challenge: more players coming at you, harder, trying to prove something.
“Some people go at you a little harder and try to prove a point,” Daniels said. “That’s fun. That’s what it’s about.”
But even elite defenders need reminders. Daniels admitted the coaching staff has been in his ear lately, pushing him to raise his level.
“Some of the coaches have been on my ass,” he said. “People have been scoring too much, so time for me to pick it up.”
Sunday night was a good start. He didn’t face Maxey at all last season due to injury, so this was his first real shot at the Sixers’ explosive guard. And Daniels didn’t shy away from it.
“Obviously very, very quick,” he said of Maxey. “Very talented.
Can do it all. So it’s about trying to be physical with him, keeping him in front.”
That’s a possession-by-possession grind, and Daniels had his moments. Through three quarters, Maxey was just 4-for-12 from the field and 1-for-7 from deep.
Some of that was Daniels. Some of it was Maxey missing open looks, as Sixers coach Nick Nurse pointed out.
But the tone had been set.
Then came the fourth quarter and overtime - and with it, the storm. Maxey attacked the rim relentlessly.
The Sixers ran action after action to get him space - isolations, step-backs, pick-and-rolls. Grimes even admitted the game plan was to make Maxey’s life easier: “We try to make it easy for him to get a lane to the basket, get an iso, a stepback three, something like that.”
And for a while, it worked. But in the end, Atlanta got the last word. Jalen Johnson stepped up with 41 points, including two massive threes in the second OT, and the Hawks - missing both Trae Young and Kristaps Porzingis - pulled out a gutsy 142-134 win.
Daniels didn’t stop Maxey. Nobody really does.
But he made him earn it. Every cut.
Every drive. Every point.
That’s what elite defense looks like in today’s NBA. It’s not about locking someone down. It’s about making them work so hard that when the game’s on the line, maybe - just maybe - they miss one.
And that’s exactly what happened.