1 Overperformer, 1 underperformer, 1 middle ground in Pacers loss to 76ers

Overperformer: Obi Toppin

Obi Toppin was an unexpected case tonight, as going into the game, I and many others were not expecting him to have as good a game as he did. Despite these expectations, Toppin was fantastic in the 21 minutes he played, as he led the Pacers in scoring in the first quarter with seven points on 3/3 shooting in a time where they couldn't get much offensive momentum going.

Following a quiet second quarter, Toppin once again came alive in the third quarter as Indiana built their run, once again scoring seven points on 3/3 shooting, including his routine highlight dunk of the game, with this one being a reverse poster jam on Joel Embiid, with Toppin not even looking at the basket while dunking.

While Toppin was fantastic in the first and third quarters, Rick Carlisle made the baffling decision to not give him any playing time in the fourth quarter, as Indiana were trying to build some momentum and build a possible lead and Toppin's offensive production could have been useful at the time.

One could very much question the decision to keep Aaron Nesmith in for the full 12 minutes in or Andrew Nembhard in for five extra minutes instead of giving Toppin any run during the fourth quarter despite him very much earning it.

Ultimately, I believe Toppin's complete lack of playing time in the fourth quarter combined with getting Tyrese Haliburton in late led to Indiana not being able to capitalize and ultimately losing the game.