by Jordan Morey
Like the seven teams before them, the Indiana Pacers couldn’t stop the red-hot buzzsaw that is the Philadelphia 76ers.
Philadelphia (8-1) extended its winning streak to a league-best eight straight on Sunday in a 137-126 victory over Indiana (6-4) at Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers, ranked first in the Eastern Conference, have won seven straight against the Pacers.
Philly’s stars put up big numbers, as point guard Tyrese Maxey finished with a career-best 50 points (20-for-32 shooting, 7-for-11 from 3-point range) and reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid registered 37 points and 13 rebounds.
Indiana trailed by double digits in the first half before climbing back to take the lead early in the fourth quarter. Down the final stretch, however, the Sixers answered every Blue & Gold run to move to 6-0 at home this season.
Philly dominated in rebounding (54-32), second-chance points (30-10), points in the paint (70-58) and fastbreak points (18-5) in the game. In the rebounding category, the Sixers also finished with a stout 23 offensive boards.
Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers with 25 points and a season-high 17 assists, and Myles Turner totaled 22 points and five rebounds. Indiana’s bench outscored Philly’s reserves 47-14 in the game.
The Pacers will get a chance to avenge their loss in just a couple of days, as the two teams will play again in Philly on Tuesday in In-Season Tournament play. Both teams are 1-0 in Group East A play.
“We’ve got a high-character group. When we get hit in the mouth, we usually respond well. But it’s hard to play from behind in this league,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ve got to work on getting a better start on Tuesday. This is one of the top two or three teams in the league and we know that, but there are certain things we can and will do better on Tuesday. We need to look at it and be honest about what those things are and make the adjustments.”
In the first half, Embiid and Maxey came out on fire. Embiid totaled 26 points on 8-for-12 shooting and seven rebounds, while Maxey logged 25 points (10-for-16 shooting) to help the Sixers to a 69-60 intermission lead.
The Pacers never led and trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half.
Embiid scored 19 points in the first quarter, shooting 6-for-8 from the field and 7-for-8 at the free throw line, to help the Sixers to a 38-27 advantage. In the game’s first four minutes, Embiid scored eight points to help the Sixers to a 15-6 lead. An 8-2 run by the Sixers – where Embiid scored six more points – then extended the advantage to double-digits. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Buddy Hield narrowed the Blue & Gold’s deficit to five with 3:36 left in the opening frame, but the Pacers didn’t get any closer the remainder of the first quarter as they trailed by 11 going into the second.
In the first 3:17 of the second quarter, Maxey scored 13 points for the Sixers to push the Philly lead to 55-36. However, from 6:31 to 3:34 in the second quarter, the Pacers strung together a 14-2 run to get back within striking distance. Reserve point guard T.J. McConnell got the Pacers back on track midway through the second quarter by scoring four straight points before Turner and Aaron Nesmith each hit threes to cut it to 59-48 with 4:17 on the clock Indiana got the deficit down to 59-52, but Embiid added seven more points in the final 2:48 to keep the Sixers ahead by nine at halftime.
The Pacers shot 60 percent in the third quarter, with Turner scoring 12 points in the period, to climb back.
Out of the break, Turner hit a 3-pointer and added a layup, while Haliburton drained back-to-back 3-pointers and finished a layup to cut it to 77-75 with 8:29 left in the third frame. The teams largely traded baskets for the next four minutes until a 3-pointer by Nicolas Batum and five straight points from De’Anthony Melton, put the Sixers up 100-91 with 2:36 on the clock. Indiana’s bench came up clutch down the final stretch of the third quarter, as Smith scored five points and Nesmith added a 3-pointer to cut it to 100-99 going into the final frame.
The Pacers took their first lead at 105-104 with 10:45 left in the game, after baskets from McConnell and Nesmith, but the Sixers immediately responded with a basket by Tobias Harris and 3-pointer by Patrick Beverley before a second 5-0 run put the Sixers up 114-107 with just under seven minutes left in the game. From 5:53 to 3:48 in the fourth quarter, Maxey scored seven points to help the Sixers to a 124-114 lead. The Sixers never trailed the rest of the way.
Inside the Numbers
Tyrese Haliburton logged his eighth double-double of the season.
Haliburton is the only player in the NBA with more than 100 assists this season. He is currently at 110.
Haliburton and Myles Turner have both scored 20+ points six times this season. Turner has scored 20+ in three straight games.
Indiana shot 52.2 percent overall compared to Philadelphia’s 50.5 percent from the field. The Sixers took 15 more total shots than the Pacers.
Indiana made 16 3-pointers and Philly hit 14.
The Pacers shot 16-for-19 rom the free throw line and the Sixers were 17-for-20.
Joel Embiid registered his seventh double-double of the season.
Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris and Embiid combined for 88 of the Sixers’ 105 total shots.
You Can Quote Me On That
“This game tonight was an opportunity for us – similar to going to Boston two weeks ago – (to feel) what it’s like to play against a championship-caliber team, and the way you have to play and the kind of attention to detail you have to have.” – Carlisle on the loss
“He’s like Tyrese (Haliburton) – he gets better each year. He’s added range to his game, and the stepback shot is now a big part of his arsenal. He hit three or four of those – those are just tremendous one-on-one plays. You’ve got to do some things to get him out of such an easy rhythm to start the game.” – Carlisle on Tyrese Maxey
“I thought as the game went on Myles (Turner) played better and better.” – Carlisle on Turner
“Searching for anybody that would go in there and play to exhaustion, play fearlessly and really just compete as hard as they can. T.J. (McConnell) was one of them. He played a lot of years here and knows what this is all about. He gave us a lift.” – Carlisle on McConnell
Stat of the Night
Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid’s 87 combined points is tied for the second-most ever by a duo against the Pacers. The Pacers gave up 87 points to San Antonio’s George Gervin (55) and James Silas (32) in January 1980 and 89 points to Jrue Holiday (51) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (38) on March 29, 2023.
Noteworthy
- Indiana’s seven straight losses to the Sixers is the longest active losing streak for the Pacers against any team in the NBA.
- The Sixers had a new first five on Sunday after starting forward Kelly Oubre Jr. was struck by a motor vehicle as a pedestrian on Saturday in Philadelphia. Oubre, who is now home after being treated at a local hospital, suffered a fractured rib and will be reevaluated in one week, according to the team.
Up Next
The Pacers and 76ers meet again in Philadelphia, this time for an In-Season Tournament game, on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 7:00 PM ET.
Originally posted on pacers.com