Nick Nurse Cites Three-Point Disparity in Sixers' Loss vs. Pacers

Nick Nurse feels Sixers need to keep pace from beyond the arc

On Tuesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers saw their winning streak come to an end. In their rematch with the Indiana Pacers, they suffered a 132-126 defeat. 

There are many factors that led to the Sixers' loss, with three-point shooting being one of them. The Pacers finished the night with 13 made threes on 37 attempts, compared to just six makes on 22 attempts for the Sixers. 

After the game, head coach Nick Nurse touched on the Sixers' low volume from three. He doesn't feel the team should live or die from beyond the arc but did admit keeping pace from three is important in today's NBA. 

"I think in this league, you got to be able to keep some type of pace," Nurse said. "It's not like you got to win the three-point game, but you got to be relatively close. So yeah, we need to make a few more." 

All of the Sixers' three-point makes on Tuesday came from their starting backcourt. De'Anthony Melton canned four triples en route to notching a season-high 30 points, and Maxey converted two of his five attempts. One of the notable players to have a minimal amount of attempts was Tobias Harris. He's been averaging just over three attempts per game this year but only got up one shot from deep on Tuesday. 

Part of why the Sixers' three-point volume was lower than normal was because of the personnel missing. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Nico Batum have been two of the more efficient shooters from deep, and both were out of the lineup. Upon their return, the Sixers should see this number slowly climb back up to their average. 

With the offense centered around the two-man game of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers need maximized floor spacing. Stretching out the defense allows the two stars to attack and creates passing lanes to set up others for shots. As Nurse said, keeping pace from beyond the arc is crucial to be competitive in this era of the game.