INDIANAPOLIS – Tyrese Maxey made Philadelphia’s worst quarter of the night survivable. With the 76ers trying to complete a comeback they had made necessary themselves, he hit two 3-pointers in the final minute and a half, the second giving Indiana too much ground to recover.
Philadelphia beat the Pacers 114–109 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday, October 28, after trailing 88–75 entering the fourth quarter. Maxey scored 17 of his 27 points in the final period. His second late triple made it 112–106 with 46 seconds remaining.
Anfernee Simons supplied 20 points off the bench, making six of 10 attempts from beyond the arc. Joel Embiid finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, Jaylen Brown had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and LeBron James contributed 13 points and 10 assists. The Sixers improved to 4–1; Indiana fell to 2–3.
The decisive contrast was not between the opening lineups but between two consecutive quarters. Philadelphia lost the third 36–13 and won the fourth 39–21. That 18-point final-period margin erased the 13-point deficit with five points to spare. The comeback demonstrated the value of multiple scoring options while leaving the collapse that preceded it unresolved.
According to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s game report, Indiana opened the second half with 17 unanswered points. The Sixers did not score in the third until a James 3-pointer with 6:05 remaining. Their 62–52 halftime advantage had disappeared before they found a response.
That halftime lead had come with a striking final touch. VJ Edgecombe, back after missing the loss to Detroit with an abdominal contusion, hit a half-court shot at the buzzer. It gave Philadelphia a 10-point cushion, but no protection against the sluggish possessions and fading defensive energy that followed the break.
The first half had already exposed how uneven the Sixers’ offense could be. Philadelphia committed seven first-quarter turnovers and missed its first five 3-point attempts. Embiid began efficiently against an Indiana center rotation missing Ivica Zubac, then picked up his second foul. Backup Adem Bona also collected two early fouls, forcing another adjustment in the frontcourt.
Simons kept the shooting problems from becoming permanent. He made Philadelphia’s first two 3-pointers late in the opening quarter and added two more in the second. After going 2-for-13 from deep across his previous three games, he gave the Sixers the floor spacing they had struggled to find. His final two triples helped turn the fourth-quarter deficit into a reachable target.
Speaking before the game, Simons had said he thought his opportunities were good and that missing the preseason had slowed his rhythm. “I think it will come with time,” he told NBC Sports Philadelphia. Wednesday supplied evidence of recovery, not proof that every shooting night would look like this one.
The rally needed more than long-range makes. Philadelphia attacked the basket, defended with greater urgency and found points through Embiid’s left-handed and-one finish. Maxey’s layup tied the score at 94, and his two free throws put the Sixers ahead 96–94 with 5:15 left.
Indiana remained close enough to punish another lapse. Embiid’s turnaround jumper pushed Philadelphia ahead 103–100, and Maxey followed with a steal before delivering the late outside shots. The guard who had only 10 points through three quarters supplied both the scoring volume and the closing possessions the Sixers needed.
For a team reshaped by LeBron James’s move to Philadelphia, the distribution of responsibility was notable. James organized enough offense to reach 10 assists, Brown and Embiid each produced a double-double, and Simons provided shooting from the bench. None of those contributions displaced Maxey when the game reached its decisive minutes.
Four Sixers reached 20 points, but that balanced final box score should not disguise the offensive trouble underneath it. NBC Sports Philadelphia reported that the team entered Wednesday with the league’s worst offensive rating outside garbage time, citing Cleaning the Glass, and ranked 27th in half-court points per play. Those figures described the early-season sample before this game, not a final judgment on the rebuilt roster.
Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Andrew Nembhard, back after missing Monday’s game with neck soreness, supplied 18 points and 14 assists, while Aaron Nesmith added 18 points. The Pacers had enough offense to seize control in the third, but not enough late stops to preserve it.
Tyrese Haliburton was unavailable with a left hamstring problem, adding a fresh complication after his preseason return from the Achilles injury. Zubac was also absent with a left ankle sprain, and T.J. McConnell was out with a right hamstring strain. Nembhard’s playmaking helped cover those absences without removing their effect on Indiana’s options.
The NBA’s game record leaves Philadelphia with a road victory and a 4–1 start before Friday’s home game against New York. What it does not settle is why a team with so many scoring solutions needed a fourth-quarter rescue in the first place. Edgecombe’s half-court make had sent the Sixers into halftime ahead by 10; Maxey’s closing shots were required to make that advantage matter again.
