On the heels of a strong road trip finish, the Indiana Pacers cruised to a wire-to-wire victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night, improving to 6-8 on the season with their fifth win in the previous seven contests after a slow start to the campaign.
Leading by as much as 20, the Pacers never looked back after midway through the first quarter, capitalizing on the 76ers’ injury-laden roster. While Philly didn’t go away, even flirting with a close game after cutting the deficit to just five late in the final frame, Indiana delivered in clutch time, with TJ McConnell’s personal 6-0 run in the closing minutes of the period ultimately sending them away for good.
The Indiana Pacers claim their sixth win of the season after beating the 76ers
Justin Holiday registered his best game this season and led the Pacers in this game, finishing with a team-high and individual season-high 27 points on six three-pointers off the bench. Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis collaborated for 38 markers, while Malcolm Brogdon tallied his second career triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.
On Philadelphia’s side, Tobias Harris kept them in the game all night, scoring a game-high 32 points on a heavier scoring load sans Joel Embiid. Tyrese Maxey chipped in 24 markers as the 76ers fall to 8-6 on the season, losing four straight.
Overall, Indiana shot a season-high 57.3 percent from the field, including a staggering 67.4 percent in the first half as they raced out to a double-digit lead, finishing the outing with 33 assists, just one short of their best mark this season.
With the Indiana Pacers set for another road trip starting with Monday’s affair at New York, here are three biggest takeaways from their win at home over the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Indiana Pacers bench, at their best, is truly among the most impactful in the league
After a slow and painful start to the season, the Indiana Pacers’ second unit has been bringing the goods as of late. This was even more lucid against Philadelphia, where the bench finished the game with a combined 48 points opposite to the Sixers’ 21.
With Justin Holiday leading the way with his unconscious shooting, the Pacers got off to a rousing start in the first half. When he is hitting his triples, the bench unit’s production tremendously elevates, since many of the second unit’s actions on offense are hinged on his movement off the ball and his synergy with the team’s playmakers.
TJ McConnell, meanwhile, continued to show why his contract extension was well-deserved. While he was silent scoring the ball for the most part, his late 6-0 run all but ensured that the Pacers garner the victory. At end point, the sneaky floor general finished with a near double-double of eight points and nine assists.
Still, perhaps the most surprising spark off the bench against Philly was Kelan Martin. Beginning the season sidelined with an injury, the third-year player has been a welcome injection of fresh blood in the second unit, ending the contest with 13 points in 25 minutes while playing good defense against the Sixers’ plethora of scoring wings.
It certainly won’t be every night that the Indiana Pacers bench scores 48, but if the second unit keeps this level of production up, even amidst more modest numbers, then the team will be well-positioned to absorb some inevitable bruises here and there while having a nightly x-factor that can emerge as one of their edges this year.
The Turbonis frontcourt continues to be at top form this season for the Indiana Pacers
I can confidently say this is the best and most coordinated that the Myles Turner-Domantas Sabonis partnership in the frontcourt has looked throughout their tenure with the Indiana Pacers so far. With both big men ingrained in more well-defined roles, the team has been extracting a lot more out of their outlier frontcourt setup. Their victory against Philly is just another example.
On offense, Turner has looked a lot more imposing scoring the ball. He’s still not as assertive on the post, but the Pacers don’t need him to be one in Rick Carlisle’s offense where spacing is punctuated. In exchange, he’s become a more bona fide threat from downtown, not hesitant on pulling the trigger unlike in previous years. The result? A career-high in points per game with 14.6 and in three-point accuracy with a 44.1 percent mark on more robust volume, a 5.3 percentage points increase from his previous season-best.
On the other hand, while Sabonis has not been as statistically prolific as last season, his more streamlined role on offense as a post operator and playmaker has resulted in more efficient play, with the All-Star shooting 58 percent from the field, currently his highest in three seasons. His three-point stroke has been marginal, and his turnovers are still high, but these only sustain the fact that the pairing still has room to improve.
Meanwhile, the pairing has also been a lot more coordinate on defense. Turner is still his usual DPOY-level self, but Sabonis has been more mobile on the perimeter, which is pivotal as his increasingly viable defense outside the paint allows Myles to be a true anchor at the rim.
Indiana Pacers rookie Chris Duarte is yet to break out of his recent funk
After a sensational start to his rookie season, Chris Duarte has been in a cold stretch recently, even tallying just seven points, his second-lowest scoring output this year. Over the last six games, he’s averaging just 10 points per game, a far cry from his norm of 14.3 points per outing in the campaign.
With defenses more aware of what he can bring to the table, Duarte has been having a harder time getting to his spots with and without the ball. In recent games, he’s been milking the clock in hopes of getting a shot up, only to end up with a well-contested shot or a turnover.
I’d say that with the Indiana Pacers starting to grasp its pecking order on offense, Duarte has been tentative on when to attack or defer. After averaging double-digit shot attempts in each of his first eight NBA games, he’s been on single-digits in that area for four of the last six contests.
Personally, I’d like to see Duarte in more off-ball actions to free him up and give him more opportunities to attack defenders or have him handle the ball at times in pick-and-roll situations for a more varied attack. He’s simply too good to stand idly on the perimeter as a release valve in bailout sequences with his natural affinity for scoring.