3 positives, 2 negatives from Pacers In-Season Tournament win vs. 76ers

That was a fun one. Following Sunday's heart-wrenching loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Indiana Pacers faced Philly again on Tuesday, this time as part of the In-Season Tournament.

With Indiana already being 1-0 in the tournament and looking for a bounce-back win against the team that beat them two days prior, it was important that they came out strong and showed the Sixers who they really are.

This is especially true when you consider what happened in the last game. Not only did Indiana lose the Sunday matchup, but they were thoroughly outclassed in every way. They were destroyed in the rebounding battle and allowed a career-high 50 points from Tyrese Maxey.

Tuesday, however, was a different case. Indy started the game off strong behind huge first quarters from Tyrese Haliburton and Obi Toppin, gaining huge momentum that they carried into halftime with a nine-point lead.

While this lead did eventually get cut down to one by the start of the fourth, Myles Turner's huge 15-point fourth quarter put the game in the Pacers' hands once again, and this time, they didn't look back, winning the game with a final score of 132-126 and improving their record to 7-4 as well as 2-0 in the In-Season Tournament.

In addition to this, Tyrese Haliburton and company also snapped the Sixers' eight-game winning streak and gave them their first loss at home.

There were plenty of things that went right this game, including some major improvements over Sunday night. In addition to this, Indiana also had a few issues that returned to haunt them, including one that almost cost them the game. Let's take a look.

Positive: Defensive improvements

After giving up 50 points to Tyrese Maxey on Sunday, Indiana looked to improve their defensive shortcomings from Sunday going into Tuesday's rematch. It is no secret that the Pacers have struggled defensively, with their defense ranking among the league's worst despite their stellar offensive play.

This was fully on display on Sunday, where in addition to Maxey's 50-point explosion, the Pacers also gave up 37 points from Joel Embiid and 19 points from Tobias Harris on a night where the defensive attention only ramped up in the fourth quarter by which time it was too late. With that being said, the Pacers looked to improve their fortunes the second time around, with mixed results on the scoreboard.

Looking at the box score, Philly only saw big contributions from four players, as Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, De'Anthony Melton, and Tobias Harris were the only players to score above two points. Yes, you heard that right. Philly's four top leading scorers led the way with 118 points combined, while the rest of the team combined for only eight points among the seven of them that got playing time.

Regardless of the lopsided scoring spread, Indiana's main defensive impact was left on the possessions, as the Sixers committed 16 turnovers compared to the Pacers' 11, and the Pacers had seven steals on the night compared to the Sixers' five.

This defensive prowess was displayed in the fourth quarter, as nobody besides Harris, Embiid, Maxey, and Melton scored, and the Sixers committed four key turnovers. Embiid was called for an offensive foul down the stretch, which put the momentum firmly in the Pacers' hands, and they they used it to ride to victory.

While allowing four players to score over 20 points isn't ideal, it's excusable when those players are quite literally the only source of offense from that team, and the Pacers did a good job neutralizing Philly's other players on offense and bunking down on defense when the time came.

Negative: Foul trouble throughout

Speaking of defense, this was about the only thing the Pacers didn't do right on that end of the floor. It's never fun when a player hits foul trouble, and even less fun when two or more hit foul trouble. Against Philly, the Pacers had four players with four or more fouls, and one that accumulated two fouls before getting sent to the hospital two minutes in.

Guarding Joel Embiid is a tough task for any player, let alone a guy whose struggles against him have been well-documented. While this isn't directly targeted at Myles Turner, who played fantastically against Embiid in the fourth quarter, he did foul out at the end of the game, accumulating his sixth foul in just over 19 minutes.

In addition to Turner, Isaiah Jackson also committed four fouls, and Jalen Smith got sent to the hospital after a wild elbow shot from Marcus Morris took him out of the game. In the two minutes Smith played before his abrupt hospitalization, he accumulated two fouls on Embiid.

This does match up when you look at Philly's box score, as Embiid himself shot 17 free throws while no other Pacer took more than eight.

Following Turner and Jackson's early foul trouble and Jalen Smith being taken out of the game, Indiana resorted to some interesting tactics on Embiid, sticking the much smaller Aaron Nesmith on him to surprising success.

This game was full of questionable calls from the referees, from multiple Embiid flops being rewarded with free throws to the one flop call being put on Obi Toppin, to the referees quite literally awarding extra free throws to the Sixers because of a mistake made five minutes early.

It seemed like the Pacers were playing eight-on-five. Some of this had to be on them, as a team doesn't shoot 35 free throws on a night off purely bad referee calls. More on the free throws later.

Positive: Rebounding finally up to par

This was a relief to see. Following the Pacers loss on Sunday, the main focus was put on the rebounding difference, which was staggering, to say the least.

On Sunday, the Pacers were out-rebounded by the Sixers in every facet. In short, the Pacers grabbed eight offensive rebounds compared to Philly's 23, and they snagged 23 defensive rebounds compared to Philly's 31, which led to a staggering 32 to 54 rebound difference. This was the key reason the Pacers lost the game.

Tuesday was, thankfully, a different story. On the night, the Pacers grabbed 10 offensive rebounds compared to the Sixers five. While they still were out-rebounded defensively, getting 31 compared to Philly's 33, they ultimately won the rebound battle, pulling down 41 rebounds compared to Philly's 38, a massive improvement from the sheer lack of rebounding displayed on Sunday.

Rebounding wins championships, and the Pacers showed a fantastic display of improvement on a game-by-game basis as they corrected their errors from the past game en route to a victory against the same team.

Overall, while the Pacers still struggle with rebounding, ranking among the worst in the league, Tuesday's improvements in that category will hopefully go a long way in getting this team their hustle back and getting them back up to around middle of the pack when it comes to rebounds.

Negative: Missed free throws

This was pretty painful to watch. I discussed this after the first tournament game against Cleveland and talked about it could come back to bite the Pacers if they keep this habit up. On Tuesday it returned and almost cost the Pacers another game.

On the night, the Pacers shot 33 free throws, similar to Philly's 35. However, while the Sixers were almost automatic from the line, hitting 34 out of 35, the Pacers were not so fortunate, shooting a rough 23/33 from the line. A 66% average.

Missed free throws are momentum-killers down the stretch, and the Pacers struggled with that problem more than they should have. In fact, Indy's free throw woes were probably the only reason why the fans in Philadelphia left happy, as Isaiah Jackson's two missed free throws in a row in the third quarter meant that fans in attendance would get free chicken nuggets.

While the Pacers would thankfully not struggle from the line in the fourth quarter, going 13/15 and taking away any chances of more free food, this is still an issue that needs to be looked at going forward.

Like I said before, free throws are the easiest points you can have in basketball, and if the best offense in the league isn't making them, there's no reason why they should be the best offense in the league.

Positive: Clutch play seals game

If you're wondering how the Pacers pulled it off in the end, that question can be answered with two names: Myles Turner and Tyrese Haliburton.

While Indiana led for most of the game headed into the fourth quarter, Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers took charge for a bit, even taking the lead off a stepback Maxey three-pointer and getting that lead to as high as three when Maxey took advantage of a wide open paint and soared in for a dunk.

However, this would be the last time the Sixers would have the momentum, as Indiana went on a 28-19 run in the final 7:30 to eventually win the game.

As mentioned before, the heroes of the fourth quarter were none other than Turner and Haliburton. Let's start with Myles.

Prior to the fourth, Turner was struggling mightily against Embiid and the Philadelphia defense as he has been known to in recent years. In the first three quarters, Turner only played 7:45 due to foul trouble and only had two points on 1/4 shooting as well as already accumulating four fouls. At the time, it seemed like Turner learned nothing from his second half on Sunday and fully shied away from the challenge that is Joel Embiid.

The fourth quarter was when everything changed, however. In the fourth, to everyone's surprise, Turner exploded for 15 points on 4/7 shooting, including a layup to give the Pacers a lead with six minutes left that they would not relinquish.

Turner was also fantastic on the defensive end, surprisingly becoming more aggressive, despite getting five fouls and drawing a key offensive foul on Joel Embiid with five minutes left to put the momentum firmly in Indiana's hands.

This had to have been a great feeling for Turner, who has often been lambasted for his sometimes-poor play against Embiid. These past two games have been a different story, however, as Turner figured out how to play against Embiid in the second half of the Sunday game and used that knowledge to get Indy a much-needed victory in the Tuesday rematch, feeding off the negativity of the Philadelphia fans to motivate himself to victory.

And then there was Tyrese Haliburton.

It feels like Haliburton has been the reason why the Pacers have won every close game, and he came through tonight, scoring seven points and dishing out six huge assists down the stretch to help Indy win.

Haliburton was fantastic overall on the night, putting up 33 points and dishing out 15 assists with no turnovers, giving him 32 assists in the past two games without a single turnover, a feat that only he can put his name next to as he continues to make history.

With this win, the Pacers have to feel good about themselves, as they are now 7-4 and now have four days of rest to look forward to as they prepare for Sunday's matchup against Orlando. This win was another fantastic showing by Indiana, as they learned from their mistakes on Sunday, and bounced back to beat the same team they lost to.