Indiana Pacers fall in overtime to Philadelphia 76ers — three takeaways

The Pacers blew a late lead and fell in overtime to the 76ers on Wednesday night

The Indiana Pacers have been great in the clutch in recent games. They held on late to beat Boston a few weeks ago. They found a way to topple Miami in the final seconds two days later. Recently, they held off the Cavaliers and Clippers down the stretch of games to pick up impressive victories. In the span of about two weeks, clutch play guided the Pacers to a five-wins-in-six-games stretch.

Against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, that looked like it was going to be the case again. Indiana was down 13 early in the fourth quarter, but they picked up their defensive intensity and found an offensive rhythm behind Bennedict Mathurin and Buddy Hield. With 57 seconds left, the Pacers were up by four points and just needed one stop or one bucket to win.

They got neither, and the 76ers ended up evening up the score. The game went to overtime, and despite Philadelphia shooting 3/11 in the extra period, the Pacers couldn't make enough baskets to win. They fell 129-126 and dropped to 21-18.

"We should have never been in overtime, we know that. There were a couple of errors that we made that we'll learn from," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after the game.

The Pacers' clutch brilliance finally came to an end. They couldn't do enough to emerge with a victory on Wednesday night despite a 13-point fourth quarter comeback, and they will remember their play during the final minute for a while.

Any close game comes with many takeaways, and this one is no different.

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The Pacers final minute of the fourth quarter was miserable

Indiana had the ball and a four-point lead with under 40 seconds to go. Then, guard Andrew Nembhard threw a telegraphed pass to Tyrese Haliburton, and Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey stole it and took it in for a dunk.

With about 13 seconds to go, Haliburton turned the ball over in the lane. On the other end, Philadelphia forward Tobias Harris hit a layup to tie to the game. The Pacers just needed to take care of the ball late to win, but they failed that task.

After such a spirited comeback, it was a painful finish for the blue and gold. They are 12th in the league in turnover rate during clutch games, so normally this hasn't been an issue for the Pacers. Tonight, it was.

Indiana stopped playing like themselves in overtime

In overtime, the Pacers started attacking in isolation more often than they have at any point this season, and it was not leading to scores.

Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, and Buddy Hield were trying to push into the paint but to no avail. They were forced to settle for one-on-one situations, but none of them were easy, and the Pacers went 2/7 from the field in overtime.

This was the Pacers first overtime game of the season, meaning Mathurin and Nembhard were playing their first overtime minutes as pros. They'll be better in the future. But they, along with the rest of the Pacers, struggled tonight in the five added minutes.

Centers stepped up

The Pacers had an opportunity to dominate the game on the inside since superstar big man Joel Embiid did not play for the 76ers. Myles Turner and Jalen Smith would both have more chances to be effective.

They took advantage. Turner finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, and five blocks on 6/8 shooting while Smith had 17 points and six rebounds. The two bigs were the only two Pacers who shot better than 50% from the field.

While other position groups had off nights, the Pacers centers were good in Philadelphia. The team will look to bounce back from this loss on Friday night when they host the Portland Trail Blazers.

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• Report: Myles Turner and Indiana Pacers open up contract extension talks. CLICK HERE.
• Aaron Nesmith is in a groove for the Indiana Pacers: 'Just playing free, playing to my strengths.' CLICK HERE.
• Pacers guard Trevelin Queen on Tyrese Haliburton: 'He's just a great leader.' CLICK HERE.
• Pacers center Isaiah Jackson focusing on the simple things to stay engaged and be effective. CLICK HERE.
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