The Philadelphia 76ers paid a visit to the new-look Indiana Pacers on Thursday night to begin a 5-game road trip and things were rough for the Sixers on the night. Philadelphia was undermanned missing Tobias Harris, De’Anthony Melton, Robert Covington, Marcus Morris Sr., and Mo Bamba which made the matchup an uphill battle for the Sixers.
The Pacers led by as many as 27 as they had a ton of success on the offensive end while Philadelphia had a tough time finding an offensive groove. With the Sixers missing so many pieces, they fell short in Indiana 134-122 to begin the trip. Joel Embiid had 31 points and seven rebounds on the night. New Pacers star Pascal Siakam had 26 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Tyrese Maxey added 22 points, Nic Batum had 10 points, and Danuel House Jr. hopped off the bench and had 10 points. Jaden Springer had eight points and Ricky Council IV had 11 while KJ Martin also added 11.
Here are the player grades following the loss:
Maxey was able to get to the basket rather easily in this one. The Pacers don’t exactly offer up much defensive resistance on a nightly basis and Maxey was able to get into the paint and make plays for himself early. That allowed him to be effective on the floor on offense despite the poor 3-point shooting. Overall, Maxey was able to contribute by getting to the basket, but he had a terrible night from distance, and struggled to stay in front of Andrew Nembhard on the defensive end.
Getting the start with the Sixers so undermanned, Beverley played his role. He got into the paint on the offensive end and made plays for his teammates while being a pest on the defensive end. Indiana likes to run guys off a lot of screens and Pat Bev did a good job of fighting over those screens and bothering their perimeter players. Overall, he struggled shooting the ball and despite the strong defensive effort, he did get into some foul trouble.
It was a slow night for Oubre. He wasn’t able to give much on the offensive end as he missed an open look from deep and then had a look at the rim that fell short. Overall, he did give a solid effort on the defensive end, but he needs to give more on offense in this instance. Especially, with the Sixers missing so much offense in Harris.
With the Sixers short of forwards at the moment, Batum gave some good minutes. He had some tough defensive moments against Pacers…
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