Tag: Georges Naing

Player grades: Joel Embiid, Sixers survive pesky Pacers on the road

Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers find a way to outlast the pesky Indiana Pacers on the road.

Following an impressive win in Milwaukee on Saturday, the Philadelphia 76ers were looking to avoid an emotional letdown as they paid a visit to the Indiana Pacers on Monday. The contest marked the fourth of a five-game road trip and the Sixers would have to pick up a win while down two starters.

Tobias Harris was out for this one due to left calf soreness and PJ Tucker was out due to back spasms and Philadelphia struggled on the defensive end without them. The two of them are a big reason why the Sixers can be so stingy on that end and the Sixers missed them against the Pacers.

Indiana gave the Sixers a ton of trouble, but Philadelphia was able to prevail 147-143 behind Joel Embiid. The big fella had 42 points and five rebounds to lead the Sixers, Tyrese Maxey had 24 points, James Harden had 14, 20 assists, and nine rebounds, and Jalen McDaniels had 20 and eight rebounds. Shake Milton had 15 and Danuel House Jr. added 10 off the bench.

Here are the player grades following the win:

Sixers feel being short-handed in the past allowed them to find a way to beat Kings

The Philadelphia 76ers felt that being short-handed in the past helped them to rally and beat the Sacramento Kings.

Saturday was not the first time the Philadelphia 76ers have been short-handed in a game in the 2022-23 season.

They were missing Joel Embiid and James Harden on the road on Saturday as they took on a very good Sacramento Kings team and they didn’t blink. They’ve been through this before earlier in the season and they were able to dig deep.

Despite trailing by 21, the Sixers were able to rally behind Tyrese Maxey’s 32 points and big contributions from others. Montrezl Harrell stepped into the starting lineup and poured in 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting, Georges Niang had 17 off the bench, Shake Milton added 15 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, and the Sixers ended up winning the game.

“I think guys know what’s expected of them when guys are down at this point,” Niang told reporters. “We played a month without Tyrese, we played some time without James and Joel early in the year. I think guys are starting to realize where they kind of fit in and what they can do.”

The Sixers were able to come away with the win because they got contributions from everybody. It was a night where others knew they had to step up and help the team in order to get this one done. Harrell, especially, was terrific in his role on Saturday in order for Philadelphia to get this one done.

“Look at Trez, 7-of-8, with seven rebounds,” Niang added. “He’s capable of stepping in and being a starter and playing starter minutes and guarding (Domantas) Sabonis all night and that was huge for us.”

The Sixers completed a very impressive 5-0 road trip and they will now return home to take on the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.

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