Los Angeles (AFP) – Thaddeus Young torched his former team for 26 points and 10 rebounds as the Indiana Pacers overcame a huge performance from Joel Embiid with a 113-101 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.
Embiid added 21 rebounds to become the first player in the league this season with at least 40 points and 20 rebounds in a single game. He is the first 76ers player to score 30 points and 20 rebounds since Charles Barkley in December 1990.
Indiana’s Victor Oladipo returned from missing 11 games with a knee injury to tally 14 points and nine assists in the battle of Eastern Conference contenders. Oladipo especially made his presence known in the fourth quarter by draining some clutch jump shots.
Bojan Bogdanovic had 18 points, and the Pacers won their sixth straight to pass the Sixers in the standings.
“We were able to get some stops and make Embiid work a little harder, send some help to him, to our bigs down there and just execute it the second half,” Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said.
JJ Redick added 22 points and Ben Simmons had 18 for the Sixers, who dropped to 19-11 overall.
They also lost their second consecutive game at home after beginning the season 14-1 at home.
Philadelphia played without injured all-star Jimmy Butler, who has missed the last two contests.
The 76ers started quickly building a 12-2 lead to open the contest. Indiana went on a 12-0 surge to tie it 38-38 in the second quarter. Embiid then took over, scoring 14 points in the final five minutes of the second quarter to put Philadelphia ahead 59-49 at the half.
The Pacers then went to work, erasing that 10 point halftime deficit with the help of consecutive three-pointers by Bogdanovic.
Bogdanovic’s three with 3:46 left stretched Indiana’s lead to 102-92 and they never looked back.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.