The Philadelphia 76ers have big plans for the 2019-20 season. It’s all about winning a championship for this very talented group of players and these games in the early part of the season are more about growing together as a group and gaining chemistry.
On Saturday, they had to dig deep in order to come away with a 119-116 win over the Indiana Pacers. They found themselves trailing the Pacers by seven after they let a 15-point lead slip away and they had to muster up enough stops and get it done.
Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 32 points and 11 rebounds and Tobias Harris had 22 points while Ben Simmons came up with some huge plays in order to win the game. Despite those numbers and the energy it took to win the game, they believe they can be better.
Embiid stated post-game:
Indiana is a pretty good team so any time you get a win like that is always great, but we can improve so much more so we’re going to keep on getting better.
The Sixers are 14-6 and are 9-0 at home to start the season, but they still must be better in some areas. The defense was not stellar for the entire game as they allowed the Pacers to have big scoring runs and they also committed a few errors that allowed Indiana to go in front in the first place. Those are things that can be better.
Embiid added:
We still have a lot of room for improvement. We can get so much more better so, all of the guys are working and doing the right things and we can all get better.
Indiana is a good team that the Sixers could see at some point down the line in the playoffs so this is something that is going to help propel them in the future. A guy like Domantas Sabonis, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers before fouling out, can give Embiid a battle over the course of a 7-game series.
Embiid added on the matchup with Sabonis:
It’s great. I play physical, I put my body on the line every single night. Obviously, he’s physical so it’s a great battle.
The Sixers and the Pacers will meet again on December 31 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. [lawrence-related id=20330,20321,20313]