What is the story about?
It’s been awhile since we saw a 1:00 win on a Sunday in this city. The Sixers knocked off the Indiana Pacers 131-124 Sunday Afternoon.
Jaylen Brown powered the Sixers with 31 points shooting 12-of-18 from the floor along with three rebounds. Tyrese Maxey quietly put up 27 points and six assists shooting 9-of-19 from the field.
LeBron James had a tremendous day sharing the rock as his 11 assists moved him him up to third in the league’s all time assist leaders. He also had with 15 points and six rebounds
on five-of-eight shooting. VJ Edgecombe bounced back from a scoreless first half to end with 11 points, four rebounds, and six shooting 5-of-11 from the floor. Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 31 as well.
Joel Embiid was out with plantar fascia management in his right foot, along with Adem Bona and Dominick Barlow. The Pacers were missing Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, and Ben Sheppard.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- The Sixers moved the ball very well on their opening possession of the game as Maxey got wide open on a cut, but he smoked the bunny. It looked like he might not have corralled the bounce pass from LeBron. Maxey did get the Sixers on the board running quick off the ensuing Pacers miss. Brown knocked down two of his first three jumpers as the two of them accounted for Philly’s first 15 points of the game.
- A lot of what Maxey was able to get early was set up by LeBron, who was zipping the ball all around the perimeter early. Maxey took full advantage and had a lot of space to get his first two three-pointers off. Maxey found James up ahead for a transition bucket for James’ first points of the day.
- Brown had a really good jump shooting quarter, putting up 11 in the first. He didn’t seem to have a hard time getting to his pull-up spots, and knocked them down whether there was a hand in his face or not. Meanwhile on the other end, all five of the Pacers’ starters scored within the first six minutes of the game and started the game 11-of-19 from the floor. They were already taking advantage of the small Sixers team available with nine early second-chance points on four offensive rebounds.
- Kelly Oubre Jr. was playing in Philly for the first time since signing with the Pacers, and got off to a good start. He scored seven in the first, beating his old team on a couple of cuts. Another old friend, T.J. McConnell, hit a few of his classic short pull-up jumpers. The Sixers trailed by six after the Pacers shot 62% from the field in the first.
Second Quarter
- A quick rest on the bench didn’t cool Brown down as he nailed two more jumpers to star the second. After getting some minutes in Delaware over the weekend, Labaron Philon Jr. was back in the rotation, checking in early in the second, even if it was because Anfernee Simons picked up two quick fouls. The first time he got into an action was LeBron screening and rolling for him, but the play was quickly whistled dead when Quentin Jackson got into it with James. A couple possessions later James hit Philon on the wing for a three.
- Regardless of whether the Sixers had Jabari Walker on the floor or a less traditional center option, they had trouble giving the Pacers any resistance at the rim. Fourteen of Indy’s first 16 points in the second came from the paint or getting fouled in the paint. With that shot diet it wasn’t a shock they continued to hover over 60% from the field.
- Brown continued to find ways to put the ball in the basket, and the Sixers needed every bit of it to keep pace. There was even a sequence where he grabbed a rebound from the floor despite getting hit in the face earlier in the possession.
- After a couple of fast breaks Maxey simply created with his speed. James threw a brilliant bounce pass down the baseline to Brown for another fast break that capped off a 16-4 Sixer run. Coming out of a Pacer timeout, Oubre drew a foul on a Brown push-off, something Oubre really exaggerated in celebration. Aaron Nesmith scored a basket out of that, but Oubre missed the corner three the Pacers got out of a Maxey turnover their next trip down the floor.
- LeBron took that rebound and got up the floor quickly for a dunk attempt before the half but Oubre fouled him hard to avoid that. James hit the deck hard and stayed down for a bit, but eventually got up and knocked down two free throws to put the Sixers up by one at the break. Whether it was related or not, James and Maxey had a lengthy discussion with Tyrese Haliburton before heading back to the locker room.
Third Quarter
- Going scoreless in the first half, Edgecombe just could not buy a bucket. He missed another open corner three early in the third, but did start to produce. He nabbed a steal to start the quarter and found Maxey for a three, then finally got a couple of baskets himself going to the basket. He tried his damndest to put Ivica Zubac on a poster, but Zubac got over with enough time to meet Edgecombe with a hard foul.
- A center with a clear height advantage like Zubac was always going to give Walker trouble defensively, but he was putting in another good shift of hardwork. On top of pulling down four defensive rebounds and two on the offensive end, Walker had drilled three threes which is always a nice help to the offense.
- With that being said, Nick Nurse decided to give Tacko Fall his frst real minutes when Walker went to the bench. Fall rebounded Edgecombe’s missed free throw, which once again sent the crowd into a wild frenzy. They also ate up every bit of the screen he set for LeBron as James scored eight straight for the Sixers.
- There were some rusty moments like a foul and a defensive three-second violation, but the Fall minutes definitely could have gone worse defensively. Multiple shots at the rim were altered by him being there, including a layup attempt that went out of bounds over the backboard.
- Their defense to close the quarter looked more comfortable. Dean Wade made a great play to stop a fastbreak, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fought for a loose ball that led to him earning a pair of free throws. Maxey fell into a rhythm again on the other end, hitting a floater and another stepback three. Simons hit his second quarter-ending buzzer-beater in as many games, giving the Sixers a 10-point lead after the third.
Fourth Quarter
- After such a strong first half Brown had to sit most of the third quarter when he quickly picked up his third foul. That long rest didn’t slow his momentum down though as he hit a pull-up to start the quarter before trailing LeBron to hit an open three off the catch.
- A few possessions later Edgecombe made a nice read to open up Wade in the corner, setting the Sixers up to good position to start running away with the game. A three from Josh Huff followed by two consecutive and-1s by Siakam made sure that this game was far from over. The Sixers responded with a possession of great ball movement that, as the tweet point belowe points out, was entirely orchestrated by LeBron, and led to another Wade three. However Siakam answered again by getting right to the basket and would pick up another and-1 two possessions later.
- The Sixers offense did stagnate a bit, especially when LeBron went to the bench. They were lucky they weren’t punished more during their two minutes scoreless stretch. The only time they stopped Siakam in this stretch was when he pulled up for a jumper. Brown was finally able to snap that with a midrange but the Pacers were still able to chop the lead to four. KCP hit a big three to push that lead back up as LeBron was waiting to check back in.
- James threw another dime to a baseline cutter on his first possession back in the game, and Wade was able to draw a foul as he completed the layup, putting the Sixers back up by double digts with just over two to go. After Brown split a pair of free throws, Siakam got another and-1. He missed the free throw, and after each team committed an offensive foul, that pretty much put the Pacers in fouling territory from there on out.
