The Sixers (6-5) are still looking for their first road win and also a little redemption after getting crushed in their last outing in Brooklyn.
It certainly won’t be easy when they travel to Indiana (7-4) to take on the Pacers Wednesday night.
Let’s take a closer look at the matchup:
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• After taking just eight field-goal attempts vs. the Nets Sunday, look for Joel Embiid to get his hands on the ball early and often. He’s averaged 19.5 shot attempts and leads the league in free-throw attempts.
“[Embiid] is our crown jewel,” Brown said after practice Tuesday (see story). “He is the centerpiece of everything we do, defensively and offensively. It’s throwback stuff, it’s atypical for the NBA. He’s very different from anybody in our league. And he needs the ball.”
• A big reason the Sixers failed to get the ball to Embiid is turnovers. They turned it over a season-high 27 times. After playing five games in seven nights, the team looked flat Sunday.
The Sixers turned it over 23 times in Toronto but at least showed fight in cutting a huge Raptors’ lead to six in the fourth quarter. Perhaps there wasn’t the same juice in the building against the lowly Nets.
NBA
With two days of rest and a playoff-caliber opponent, there won’t be any excuses if the Sixers have a similar performance.
• Speaking of the Sixers’ opponent, Victor Oladipo continues to show that he’s one of the best two-way players in the league. He leads the Pacers averaging 23 points. Robert Covington will likely be tasked with covering the All-NBA guard and it’ll be a tough assignment.
• Indiana doesn’t have much star power outside of Oladipo, but it makes up for that with excellent depth. The Pacers’ bench is led by veteran and Chester native Tyreke Evans and third-year forward Domantas Sabonis.
Evans is averaging 11.3 points while shooting 44 percent from three. With the ability to create his own shot, he may have been an intriguing option for the Sixers this past offseason. So far that’s been a deficiency with the current roster.
Sabonis has been incredibly efficient with his minutes. He leads the Pacers in rebounding at 8.7 per game in just 23.5 minutes. He’s also shooting 68 percent from the field on the young season.
• The Sixers lost two out of three to Indiana last season. They shot just 38 percent from the field in those matchups vs. the Pacers.
• Wilson Chandler is available tonight and his minutes' restriction has been increased to 15 minutes, Brett Brown said, via NBC Sports Philadelphia's Serena Winters.
Here are the essentials for tonight’s game:
When: 8 p.m. EST
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia (Pregame Live starts at 7:30 EST)
Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the MyTeams by NBC Sports app
Roster
Jerryd Bayless, G, 6-3/210, No. 0
Jonah Bolden, F, 6-10, 220, No. 43
Wilson Chandler, F, 6-9/225, No. 22
Robert Covington, F, 6-9/225, No. 33
Joel Embiid, C, 7-0/260, No. 21
Markelle Fultz, G, 6-4/200, No. 20
* Demetrius Jackson, G, 6-1/200, No. 11
Amir Johnson, F/C, 6-9/240, No. 5
Furkan Korkmaz, G/F, 6-7/185, No. 30
T.J. McConnell, G, 6-2/190, No. 12
* Shake Milton, G, 6-6/205, No. 18
Mike Muscala, F/C, 6-11/240, No. 31
JJ Redick, G 6-4/195, No. 17 13
Dario Saric, F, 6-10/250, No. 9
Landry Shamet, G, 6-5/190, No. 23
Ben Simmons, G/F, 6-10/230, No. 25
Zhaire Smith, G, 6-4/200, No. 8
* Two-way player
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