PHILADELPHIA — The pesky Indiana Pacers would not lay down, until James Harden sent Bennedict Mathurian to the floor.
Harden’s textbook step-back move to generate — and bury — a wide-open three-pointer after his team’s lead had dwindled to single digits in the final quarter propelled the Sixers to finish off the Indiana Pacers, 120-106, Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center to secure their first victory of the 2022-23 season.
The Sixers (1-3) led by as many as 20 points early in the second half, but needed to hold off a Pacers rally.
After Indiana cut the Sixers lead to 103-95 on an Isaiah Jackson dunk with less than seven minutes to play, Harden hit his first step-back three-pointer from the right wing before shaking Mathurin to put the Sixers back up by 14 with 5:20 to play. By the three-minute mark, the Sixers’ advantage had ballooned back to 20 points.
The Sixers initially used a 26-10 run – capped by a Harden jumper – to build a 19-point lead at 48-29 in the second quarter. That advantage grew to 71-51 on two Joel Embiid free throws shortly after halftime.
Harden’s near-triple-double (29 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds) led a Sixers squad that had five players finish in double figures. Embiid added 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting and five rebounds.
The Pacers, who played without standout center Myles Turner (sprained ankle), were led by Tyrese Haliburton’s 19 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.
Bench brigade
After amassing just 34 points over their first three games, the Sixers’ reserves provided a legitimate punch with 36 points Monday night.
Georges Niang finished with 13 points on 3-of-6 from three-point range, while De’Anthony Melton scored all 11 of his points in the first half and added five rebounds. Danuel House Jr. notched five quick points right after entering the game late in the first. Montrezl Harrell drew three fouls late in the first, then went 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
Shake Milton also made his season debut, playing four first-half minutes. Paul Reed also got three minutes at the end of the second quarter and another six minutes after the break.
Embiid’s minutes
Coach Doc Rivers continued to deploy an unconventional (and, they hope, temporary) rotation pattern for Embiid, whom Rivers said lacks conditioning because of plantar fasciitis Embiid dealt with in the lead-up to training camp.
Embiid was the first Sixer to sub out of the game midway through the first quarter, but returned for the final 1:14. He departed again less than five minutes into the second quarter, but came back at the 4:44 mark. With the Sixers leading by double digits, Reed then played the final three minutes.
Embiid got another quick at about the five-minute mark of the third but came back for the final 2:11, which included a thunderous dunk. Embiid started the fourth but left less than two minutes into the quarter after he quickly picked up his fourth and fifth fouls. He returned about midway through the final period.
“We’re going to stay on that for right now,” Rivers said before the game. “I don’t love that with him, but I think it gives him an opportunity for him to play all out for shorter spurts, and I think that’s good for him
“One thing [I’ve] learned over the years is that, when you put a guy in and you play him 10 or 12 minutes [in one stretch], if he reaches the point of where he’s exhausted, sometimes they never come back from that. So we don’t want that to happen. We want him to be fresh through the game.”
Up next
The Sixers will embark on their first extended road trip of the season, playing at the Toronto Raptors Wednesday and Friday, at the Chicago Bulls on the second night of a back-to-back on Saturday and then at the Washington Wizards on Halloween night.
