Pacers fall flat in the fourth, lose to LeBron and 76ers: Seven things learned

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers hosted the new-look Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night. Yes, the Sixers have LeBron James now. They also have Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Jaylen Brown.

Even after watching them a few times, seeing all those players on the court together merits a "What the hell?". The Pacers were going to try to beat them.

And they were doing it without Tyrese Haliburton, who has a hamstring injury that will keep him out for a few weeks. More on that to come, as with other much-needed injury updates.

In the meantime, the Pacers got Andrew Nembhard back and were looking for their first home win against the King. What was learned in Pacers vs 76ers?

Circle City Spin

The Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, up close

Circle City SpinTony East

Rebounding is a growing issue for the Pacers... at times

The Pacers rebounding was a costly mess in Milwaukee, and that trend continued early in this game.

Granted, without Ivica Zubac available, the Pacers don't have much rebounding talent on the roster. But they need to be better with their box outs than they have been of late. In the first half of his game, the 76ers outrebounded the Pacers 28-18.

The Pacers used a turnover edge to keep up in the possession battle during the first half. They weren't totally ruined by their lack of rebounding power. But in that half, this was one of the Pacers' bigger issues.

In the second half, largely thanks to better shooting and defensive improvements, the Pacers were able to bounce back on the glass. In the end, they actually kept things close on the glass, which finished 47-45 in their favor.

Where would the Pacers be without Pascal Siakam?

With Haliburton out, the Pacers needed great two-way play from Pascal Siakam. Was there ever a doubt they were going to get it?

Siakam battled and spun and cut his way into double figure scoring fairly quickly. His bag of tricks works against just about everyone, and his defensive effort was critical in slowing down what Sixers star he happened to be defending on a particular possession.

With the Pacers struggling on the glass, Siakam turned up his effort in the rebounding department. In the third quarter alone, he pulled in seven and reached a double-double.

Siakam is used to leading the Pacers when Haliburton is sidelined. He was great in this game and finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

The Pacers stayed in this game because of defense

The 76ers scored 37 points in the second quarter, which would generally be looked at and called a poor quarter. In some ways, it was – the Pacers botched a few switches and the Sixers stars got going.

But the Pacers mostly played solid defense in this game. After three quarters, they had allowed Philly to score just 75 points, including only 15 in the third. At the time, the 76ers had 14 turnovers and were shooting 41.8% from the field.

The Pacers were forcing the Sixers to play "your turn, my turn," basketball. It was an impressive defensive effort for most of the night. In the fourth, however, Philly found ways to leverage Embiid's post gravity and the Pacers struggled to deal with it. Then, Maxey took over.

Jalen Slawson had an absurd chasedown block

To kick off the second quarter, the Pacers had a turnover that gave James a breakaway. It looked like a dunk was inevitable.

Two-way contract forward Jalen Slawon disagreed. He raced back for a chasedown block on the player who has the most famous chasedown in NBA history:

The Pacers had a spectacular third quarter

The Pacers were down 10 at halftime and needed juice in the worst way. Their offense, in particular, was below the level they needed to keep up with a star-studded Philly team.

In the third quarter, everything came together. The Pacers were much better on the glass and forced several missed shots from the 76ers. Their offense, in turn, flowed. Nembhard and Siakam created good shots. Role players made jumpers.

All together, it was a 36-15 frame for the Pacers. Nembhard, Siakam, and Aaron Nesmith had 25 of those points. Siakam, Jay Huff, and Jarace Walker were great on the glass.

Despite a double-digit halftime deficit, the Pacers were ahead by 11 entering the final quarter. The third period gave them a chance.

Fourth quarter offense was a mess

The Pacers started the fourth quarter 1/12 from the field, undoing all of their momentum from the third frame. Their lead evaporated quickly.

Philadelphia found some answers thanks to their stars – Maxey and Embiid, in particular, gave the Pacers some trouble. With the Pacers unable to find the bottom of the net, Philadelphia had more time to get into their sets and play off of Embiid's gravity.

Despite leading by as much as 13 in the third quarter, the Pacers were trailing in crunch time and needed to get organized.

Crunch time was a battle, but Tyrese Maxey was too much

The Pacers relied on Siakam, Obi Toppin, and Nembhard to lead them in the final minutes. Those three were able to create good looks as the Pacers offense got back on track late.

But their defense wasn't enough – sometimes because of execution, other times because of brilliance from Maxey. He hit two absurd threes late in this game. The Pacers needed some defensive successes.

They never got it. Despite more consistent play in this outing, the Pacers fell 114-109 to the 76ers and dropped to 2-3.

Thank you for reading. Much more to come on injuries and other updates concerning the Pacers. Sign up to get it all in your inbox.