January 25, 2024
Trevor Ruszkowski/USA TODAY Sports
In his first action since scoring a franchise record 70 points on Monday night, Joel Embiid and the Sixers fell to the Indiana Pacers Thursday night.
As the hysteria surrounding Joel Embiid's epic 70-point performance on Monday night finally began to die down, the Sixers kickstarted a lengthy road trip Thursday night with a contest in Indiana against the new-look Pacers -- minus superstar point guard Tyrese Halliburton. The Sixers dropped this one due to some significant defensive struggles, falling by a score of 134-122. Here is what stood out from the opener of the roadie:
Harris missed this one due to an illness, and with Marcus Morris Sr. also sidelined due to a foot injury, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse opted to go small with Patrick Beverley starting alongside Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., Nic Batum and Embiid. This allowed Maxey to spend a bit more time playing off the ball and being weaponized as a movement shooter, which can never hurt -- though Maxey ultimately did not end up shooting the ball particularly well in this one. Additionally, the team's lack of depth at the four allowed KJ Martin to receive extensive playing time.
Harris and Morris were not the only Sixers missing, though. De'Anthony Melton, Robert Covington and Mo Bamba all missed this one as well. That meant regular run for not just Martin, but fellow rotation outsider Jaden Springer, who has not seen consistent playing time since the very early portion of the regular season. Danuel House Jr., who briefly found himself out of the rotation just a few weeks ago, has recently been receiving as much playing time off the bench as anybody. That trend continued in this one.
Despite the exciting season they are having, the Pacers remain expected to listen carefully to any and all trade offers for sharpshooter Buddy Hield, whose contract is expiring. Hield and the Pacers have routinely seemed to be far apart in contract negotiations, making it appear as if this will be his final season in Indiana.
The name of Hield's game remains three-point shooting. But it goes beyond that: Hield is not just a very good three-point shooter -- he is, statistically speaking, one of the very best shooters from beyond the arc in the history of the NBA. For his career, Hield is shooting over 40 percent on triples, and he is doing so on massive volume: 7.7 three-point tries per game. Hield's volume has been as high as north of 10 attempts per game in the past. His blend of accuracy and versatility as a shooter is only matched by the Stephen Currys and Klay Thompsons of the world.
Hield would give the Sixers a massive boost on offense, of course, even if he does not contribute much on the defensive end of the floor. But beyond the raw value of his shots, he would allow Nurse to unlock previously-unused sections of his offensive playbook. Nurse could utilize Hield's outstanding skill when it comes to shooting on the move, as well as what would surely be a dominant two-man game between Hield and Embiid.
If the Pacers really do go through with moving on from Hield in the next two weeks, the Sixers should be working the phones to see if they can add the sniper extraordinaire.
The short-handed Sixers struggled all night long to defend Indiana's high-powered offense, which is even formidable without its floor general in Haliburton being available. The Pacers turn every game into the ultimate track meet, pushing the pace and playing with as fast of a tempo as they can. Several times during a game, it generates easy transition baskets -- even following opposing makes.
One of the beautiful parts of Tyrese Maxey's game is that as soon as he has the ball, the defense must act as if they are defending in transition. The Pacers' collective psyche as an offense forces the same situation onto opposing defenses. As soon as they have the ball -- again, even after made shots -- they pose a major threat. The Sixers struggled to internalize that on a possession-by-possession basis.
The Pacers entered this contest top five in the NBA in team three-point percentage, and that figure will only go up after this one. They were consistently generating great looks from beyond the arc and knocking down those shots at an impressive rate. The Sixers did not necessarily fail to create good looks for themselves, but they simply could not knock anything down. The most noteworthy struggles belonged to Maxey, whose three-point shooting in recent games has been excellent aside from one tough showing.
