The Philadelphia 76ers knocked off the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night, 141-121, in easy fashion. They led by as many as 24 and allowed their main guys to rest. James Harden and PJ Tucker missed the contest due to injury. Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris didn’t have to play much late.
Embiid had another monster game. He went for 31 points on 10-for-15 shooting with seven rebounds and seven assists while blocking two shots. It is a franchise record ninth straight game with at least 30 points as he has been on an incredible run for Philadelphia.
The schedule, however, doesn’t get any easier for the Sixers. They return home on Monday to host the Chicago Bulls, but head right back out on the road. They will face the Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets to finish a seven of eight games on the road stretch.
“We’re not out of it,” coach Doc Rivers told reporters after finishing up a three-game road trip in Indiana. “This flying home from here to play one game to go back on a row for four is insane, but it is what it is, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Rivers is right. There isn’t anything he or the Sixers can do about it except lace up the sneakers and hoop. But it is a little ridiculous to think about. It’s almost like a long eight-game road trip when considering they will fly home for the one game just to go back out on the road again.
“The one game is still a road game,” Rivers added. “Our crowd will give us support and that’ll be the only reason we’ll know that we’re at home, but we’re literally coming home to do laundry, and then we go back on the road. For those guys that do laundry.”
The Sixers have found success on the road this season. After a 4-1 road trip to open March, they swept the three games on this trip and are 22-12 away from Wells Fargo Center. They have also won six straight games on the road which is an impressive feat.
“We just focus on the road,” Rivers finished. “Like that’s been something we’ve talked about for three years now and really came into this year talking about games we’ve dropped on the road and let’s win them. I told our guys, and I told you guys before, you can’t have a script to every game. Sometimes the game has to write the script. Sometimes, it goes exactly the way it’s scripted.”
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