Instant Observations: 76ers’ Win Streak Ends With In-Season Tournament Loss to Pacers

The Philadelphia 76ers’ (8-2) win streak ended at eight games with a 132-126 loss to the Indiana Pacers (7-4) on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The team now falls to 1-1 in the In-Season Tournament Group Play.

Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 39 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Tyrese Maxey finished with 27 points, four rebounds and six assists. De’Anthony Melton added a season-high 30 points to go with four rebounds and three assists. Tobias Harris finished with 22 points and seven rebounds. The Sixers were without Nic Batum (personal reasons) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (fractured rib).

The Pacers were led by Tyrese Haliburton, who finished with 33 points, six rebounds and 15 assists. Obi Toppin added 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting to go with six rebounds. Indiana was without Daniel Theis (personal reasons).

The Sixers’ next matchup is at home against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night. Here are some instant observations from the loss to the Pacers:

– Embiid’s ability to get to the free-throw line took center stage against the Pacers. He got three different Pacers big men into foul trouble in the first quarter. Most of his damage in the opening quarter came from the charity stripe, knocking down all eight of his attempts. Myles Turner, an excellent interior defender in his own right, committed two fouls in just the first 4:15 of the game. Turner was limited to just 19 minutes because of being in constant foul trouble.

The Sixers struggled to take advantage of the foul trouble amongst Indiana’s big men. When Embiid checked back into the game in the second quarter, the Pacers defended him mostly with forwards and other undersized defenders. For countless possessions, Embiid established strong post position only to see the Sixers fail to get the ball down to him. The Sixers are in desperate need of more players who can properly execute an entry pass into the post. In an example of their struggles in this area, Maxey’s attempt at getting the ball to Embiid, who had sealed his defender away from the basket, bounced off the backboard. At least on that play, Embiid was able to grab the ball off the ricochet and draw a foul.

After shooting just 3-of-10 from the field in the first half, the Sixers leaned on a few simple actions to get Embiid going. They made it a focus to get him the ball more around the elbows, allowing Embiid to effectively utilize his face-up game. The Sixers also started going more towards the pick-and-roll, something they have had a ton of success with this season. That action generated a ton of open looks, either for Embiid or someone else on the floor. Embiid was able to bounce back from an inefficient first half, hitting on all six of his attempts in the third quarter.

However, things fell apart for Embiid and the Sixers in the fourth quarter. Turner, who was a non-factor for most of the game, had his way against Embiid in the paint. Fifteen of his 17 points came in the fourth quarter. Embiid also struggled mightily on the other end of the floor, committing one poor turnover after another. The Sixers, who did a great job battling back into the game through the second half, were not able to overcome Embiid’s struggles in the final frame.

– Harris continues to be one of the Sixers’ most consistent players this season. He scored the Sixers’ first six points of the game while continuing to successfully attack in transition. Harris has done a much better job this season playing with physicality, effectively using his size to move smaller defenders out of his way. His night nearly came to an end when Bruce Brown landed on his neck after jumping in the air off a Harris pump fake. He was forced to go into the locker room due to the NBA’s concussion protocol. After a few minutes, he returned to the floor. It was a scary moment, but fortunately he seems to have avoided any major injury.

– Melton’s start to the season can best be compared to a roller coaster. He unfortunately has had more lows than highs thus far. However, his performance against the Pacers was his best game of the season thus far. He used the 3-pointer to get going early, draining a pair of triples in the first half. His play in the third quarter was crucial to helping the Sixers get back into the game. Not normally known for his ability to drive the basket, he found success attack Indiana’s interior defense. The results were a flurry of trips to the free-throw line, with him knocking down all of them. Melton has gotten off to a slow start this season, but this game leaves him a ton of positives to potentially build off of moving forward.

– After Maxey scored 50 points against them on Sunday, the Pacers came into this game looking to prevent him from doing a ton of damage. Maxey rarely had any clean driving lanes. Indiana adjusted their defense against him, including trying to bring over double teams and trap him whenever he tried to drive into the lane. While Maxey did not have much success as a driver in this contest, he also lacked his typical quick trigger from 3-point range. He passed up on far too many open looks from beyond the arc, something that must be corrected moving forward. As one of the best outside shooters in the league, Maxey needs to jack up at least seven or eight 3-pointers per game. There is no excuse for him to pass up on as many open shots as he did in this game.

Maxey struggled for much of the night, but he did heat up in the opening minutes of the final frame. He knocked a beautiful step-back 3-pointer over Brown. A few plays later, he drove down the lane and finished it with a left-handed dunk. The 23-year old finished with 15 points in the fourth quarter, continuing his season-long success in the final frame. It was good to see Maxey be assertive in the fourth quarter, especially when he had previously had a slow night.

– It was clear the Sixers sorely missed both Oubre and Batum. Oubre’s scoring punch is essential for the Sixers, and Batum provides important defense, outside shooting and overall basketball smarts. Being without both of them forced Robert Covington into the starting lineup. Covington, at this stage of his career, is more suited to a smaller role off the bench. Danuel House Jr. and Marcus Morris Sr. both played significant roles as the Sixers had to dig deeper into their second unit. The results, predictably, were poor. House and Morris combined for 36 minutes, two points, four rebounds and an assist.

– The Sixers have largely been a good defensive team so far this season. However, that did not carry over to this game against the Pacers. Haliburton carved up the Sixers’ perimeter defense. He took advantage of the open space the Sixers gave him to the tune of shooting 7-of-12 from long distance. The Sixers played sloppy defense the entire night, messing up rotations and committing far too many poor fouls. For now, this can just be chalked up to one bad night defensively.