Adrian Fedkiw
Up six with 1:35 left in the fourth quarter, up two with 5.9 ticks remaining in regulation, you’d think the Philadelphia 76ers were in prime position to pick up their first win of the year.
Nope.
Paul George hit a game-tying jumper with 3.9 ticks to go in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime and the Indiana Pacers pulled away in the extra session to earn a 122-115 win over the Joel Embiid-less Sixers on Wednesday night.
Philadelphia fell to 0-7 on the year.
Embiid did not travel to Indiana due to what the team called “load management.” A frustrated Embiid wanted to play, but understood the decision.
“It’s frustrating, but they care about me,” Embiid said via CSN Philly on Tuesday. I think it’s going to help me a lot down the road. Whatever how many years I’m going to play – 15, 20 years – it’s really going to help me down the road. They care about me. It’s frustrating, I want to play, but it is what it is.”
Embiid leads the Sixers with 17.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game over 21.4 minutes per contest. He also leads the NBA in 3-point shooting at 66.7 percent.
Dario Saric, who finished with 14 points and 12 boards, knocked down a jumper to stake the Sixers to a 106-100 margin with 1:35 to play in the fourth before the Pacers ripped off seven straight to go in front by a point. That’s when Gerald Henderson hit a right wing 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds on the clock to put Philly up 109-107. George made a left baseline jumper on Indiana’s ensuing possession to tie it and Jahlil Okafor was off the mark on a left baseline jumper of his own at the other end to send the contest to overtime where the Pacers cruised to the victory.
You can watch the highlights below, via CSN Philly.
Robert Covington led the Sixers with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting and 5-of-9 efficiency from beyond the arc. He began the year just 5-of-30 from deep, but is 8-of-13 from long distance the last two games.
.@Holla_At_Rob33 vs Indiana ⤵️
?: 23 PTS / 55.6 3P% / 6 REB pic.twitter.com/Jz38KCQD09
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) November 10, 2016
Henderson netted 17 points and Okafor added 15 for the Sixers, who sunk just 9-of-19 foul shots.
Jeff Teague posted 30 points and nine assists and George poured in 28 points to go with eight rebounds for Indiana, which improved to 4-4 on the season.
Both teams will play again in Philly on Friday night. Embiid is expected to play.