When the Philadelphia 76ers visit the Indiana Pacers for a Sunday matinee in Indianapolis, they will try to avoid an 0-3 start with their star center Joel Embiid sidelined.
Philadelphia dropped its second game to open the 2024-25 campaign on Friday, 115-107 on the road against the Toronto Raptors. The Sixers tipped off the season with a 124-109 home loss on Wednesday to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Overshadowing the result were reports of the NBA investigating Embiid’s absence from the lineup.
The Sixers announced Tuesday that Embiid, who did not play in the team’s preseason games or intrasquad scrimmages, is sitting out this week for maintenance of his left knee. The 2022-23 NBA MVP played in just 39 games last season due to injury.
With Embiid out of the lineup, perimeter players Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre have paced the Sixers’ offense through the first two games. Oubre scored 28 points in Friday’s loss and Maxey finished with 24 points, while shooting a dismal 2 of 12 from 3-point range.
Philadelphia is shooting 17 of 60 (28.3 percent) from beyond the arc to open the season.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse said that finding the right combinations to play together is a primary challenge in this early stretch of the season. He cited veteran center Andre Drummond, starting in place of Embiid, being limited to 22 minutes due to foul trouble as interfering with the rotations. Drummond has committed 10 fouls in two games.
“We didn’t get to use it very long because Drum picked up two quick (fouls),” Nurse said. “That’s going to be the challenge to figure it out. But we’ve just got to play better. I just think our execution on the offensive end was really poor, and our execution on the defensive end was average at best.”
Indiana looks to extend Philadelphia’s initial woes in what is the Pacers’ home opener. They are looking to rebound from their own disappointing showing in the season’s first week, after a 123-98 blowout loss against the New York Knicks on Friday.
Indiana won 115-109 at Detroit on Wednesday, with Bennedict Mathurin going for 19 points and six rebounds off the bench in his first game since March. Mathurin missed the final month of the regular season and Indiana’s run to the Eastern Conference finals due to a shoulder injury.
Mathurin was a bright spot in Friday’s loss, scoring a team-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor. breakout All-NBA star of a season ago, Tyrese Haliburton, went scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
The Pacers went a staggering 3 of 30 from beyond the arc. Indiana’s only made attempts from deep came from Mathurin (2 of 5) and Jarace Walker (1 of 4) off the bench.
Haliburton led the NBA in assists a season ago, but has only distributed nine through this season’s first two games.
“I’m going to get in the gym and I’m going to shoot. We’re all gonna shoot and we’re going to be ready to go on Sunday,” Haliburton said. “I’m going to get a lot of shots (on Saturday), I’m going to get a lot of shots on Sunday (pregame) and I’m gonna be ready to go on Sunday.”
