Joel Embiid, 76ers Sweep Road Trip With Blowout vs. Pacers

Joel Embiid and the 76ers took care of business on Saturday night against the Pacers.

The Philadelphia 76ers wrapped up their recent three-game road trip with a matchup against the Indiana Pacers. 

Coming off of a dominant win against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night, the Sixers were back on the floor less than 24 hours later to face the Pacers.

A couple of key Sixers got the night off as James Harden, and PJ Tucker were ruled out. Meanwhile, the Pacers missed a couple of key contributors, including their star guard, Tyrese Haliburton.

The last time the Sixers and the Pacers battled it out nearly two weeks ago, it was an offensive shootout, which resulted in a tight Sixers win.

This time, the Pacers couldn’t answer to every basket the Sixers had. Despite a slower start than expected from 76ers center Joel Embiid, the big man’s supporting cast took advantage of the open looks they were getting. 

Through the first quarter of action, the Sixers drained over 50 percent of their shots. Tyrese Maxey led the way with eight points on 3-4 shooting from the field. The Sixers collected a double-digit lead within the first quarter, but the Pacers continued battling back to stick around.

Indiana kept the game within reach, as they countered Philadelphia’s 38 second-quarter points with 37 of their own, but they still trailed by 11 points going into halftime. 

The Pacers’ plan of preventing Embiid from getting everything he wanted worked as well as it could in the first half, but the Sixers’ center couldn’t be contained in the third quarter. 

For his next 12 minutes on the floor coming out of the half, Embiid put up seven shots from the field, knocking down all but two of them. He went to the free throw line, draining all but one of his seven attempts. Embiid would put up 16 points in the third quarter alone, more than he scored in the first half of action.

For a second-straight game, Embiid was able to get the entire fourth quarter off as the Sixers were able to build a commanding lead in the fourth quarter.

By outscoring the Pacers 35-26 in the fourth quarter, the Sixers cruised past Indiana with a 141-121 victory. Embiid finished with a game-high of 31 points in 29 minutes of action. He also had seven rebounds and seven assists to go with his scoring.

The young guard Tyrese Maxey tied with Embiid as he scored 31 points as well. The young guard knocked down 12 of his 18 shots from the field and hit on five of his threes. While Maxey and Embiid led the charge on Saturday, the Sixers had an all-around solid team effort.

With that victory, the Sixers picked up their eighth in a row. They’ll head home for a quick matchup against the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.