The Sixers spent most of Wednesday night trading punches with the Pacers, then flipped the game in the fourth quarter and walked out with a 114-109 road win.
It was the kind of finish that can steady a team early in the season. Philadelphia erased a 13-point deficit heading into the final period, improved to 4-1, and handed Indiana its third loss in five games.
The Sixers also got a scoring spread that covered plenty of ground: Tyrese Maxey led the way with 27, Joel Embiid had 21, Jaylen Brown added 20 and Anfernee Simons matched him with 20. LeBron James chipped in 13 points and 10 assists.
Indiana leaned on Pascal Siakam, who finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Andrew Nembhard posted 18 points and 14 assists.
The Sixers were missing Dominick Barlow (lower back stress reaction), Jabari Walker (left knee soreness), Tacko Fall (left quadriceps strain) and Ariel Hukporti (right Achilles tendon tear). The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton (left hamstring tightness/soreness), Ivica Zubac (left ankle sprain) and T.J. McConnell (right hamstring strain).
Philadelphia will head home to meet the Knicks on Friday night.
Early on, the Sixers didn’t exactly look like a group ready to snap into high gear. They came into the night owning the NBA’s worst offensive rating outside of garbage time, according to Cleaning the Glass, and they sat 27th in half-court points per play. That showed up right away.
The first quarter was messy. Philadelphia turned it over seven times, and Kelly Oubre Jr. picked up an early offensive foul on Maxey after contact with the off arm, a call that clearly irritated his former teammate. Still, the Sixers had no trouble getting everyone involved in the opening minutes except VJ Edgecombe, who was back after missing Sunday’s loss to the Pistons with an abdominal contusion.
Embiid gave them one of the brighter early signs. He started 3 for 3 from the field and looked comfortable against an Indiana center rotation that featured Jay Huff and Larry Nance Jr.
But foul trouble cut into that rhythm quickly. Embiid picked up his second with 3:21 left in the first quarter, and Adem Bona also got two fouls before the period was over, forcing Dean Wade and James into the frontcourt to open the second.
The shooting lagged behind the pace for a while, especially from deep. Philadelphia missed its first five three-point attempts before Simons finally broke the seal late in the first quarter, then hit another on the next possession to push the Sixers ahead 22-17. He kept it rolling in the second, knocking down two more threes on his way to a 6-for-10 night from beyond the arc.
That bounce-back mattered after a rough stretch for Simons. After missing the preseason with a hamstring injury and playing well in the opener against the Knicks, he had gone just 2 for 13 from three over his previous three games. He wasn’t sounding shaken by it Tuesday.
“For the most part, I think they’ve been good (looks),” he said. “You can see now how not playing in the preseason has held me back a little bit. … I think it will come with time.”
Brown eventually added a three for a Sixers group that had been waiting for somebody else to join Simons from long range, and Edgecombe closed the half with a half-court buzzer-beater to send Philadelphia into the break up 62-52.
Then came the roughest stretch of the night. Indiana opened the third quarter on a 17-0 run and completely seized control.
The Sixers’ offense went flat, the defensive energy dipped, and they didn’t score in the quarter until James hit a three with 6:05 remaining. That kind of third-quarter slump was a familiar problem last season, when Philadelphia’s minus-10.6 net rating in the period ranked 30th in the league.
But the fourth quarter told a different story. The Sixers tightened up defensively, attacked the rim and dragged themselves back into the game. Simons and James each buried threes, Embiid finished an and-one left-handed layup, and two Maxey free throws gave Philadelphia a 96-94 lead.
The closing minutes stayed tight, but the Sixers made the bigger plays. Embiid drilled a turnaround jumper to make it 103-100, Maxey snatched a steal, then took over with a clutch step-back three and a catch-and-shoot jumper that all but put it away.
It wasn’t clean for long stretches, but Philadelphia showed it can turn the switch late. For now, that’s enough to leave them 4-1 and still looking like a team with plenty of room to grow.
In Other News...
Sixers Could Catch Pacers At The Perfect Time Wednesday
Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe are expected back in the 76ers lineup Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers, giving Philadelphia a major boost after both sat out the previous game with injuries. Even with those reinforcements, the Sixers are still working around several absences of their own, including Dominick Barlow, Tacko Fall and Jabari Walker, so the rotation is not exactly at full strength yet.
Still, the timing could matter. Indiana arrives with its own injury concerns, and the Pacers have several players on the report, including some key names who are either out or in question for the matchup. For a Sixers team trying to stabilize itself, this is the kind of spot where getting Embiid back can change the feel of the night quickly, even if the full picture on the other side is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Adem Bona Just Put Real Pressure On The Sixers Backup Center Race
A recent run of minutes gave Adem Bona the kind of opportunity the 76ers have been waiting to see him seize. In 25 minutes, he finished with six points, 13 rebounds and three blocks, a line that underscored why the coaching staff had already envisioned him as part of the center rotation. With injuries thinning the big-man group and Andre Drummond gone, the pathway behind Joel Embiid has opened wider than expected.
Bonas case is built less on scoring than on the traits Philadelphia needs most when Embiid sits: activity, rim protection and work on the glass. The competition for backup center minutes is still shaped by who is available, but Bona has clearly put himself in position to be the primary option off the bench. For a team trying to preserve Embiid while staying solid in the frontcourt, that is no small development. [Read more 🡒]
Why The Nets Wanted No Part Of Jaylen Brown
Before Jaylen Brown ever got to Philadelphia, the Nets apparently had a chance to bring him to Brooklyn and passed. According to league insider Brian Lewis, Boston floated Brown in trade talks, but Brooklyn declined in large part because of his close relationship with Kyrie Irving, a connection the organization apparently did not want to revisit after the turbulence of Irvings run there.
For the Sixers, the backstory is part of the larger appeal of landing a player who has settled in and produced right away. Brown is performing well this season, and while the Brooklyn angle is mostly a what-if now, it helps explain why his arrival in Philadelphia mattered beyond the normal trade chatter. The Nets may have had their reasons for staying away, but the Sixers are the ones benefiting from what they saw as a clean fit. [Read more 🡒]