Sixers beat Pacers for first win as James Harden scores 29

The pesky Indiana Pacers would not lay down, until the 76ers’ James Harden sent Bennedict Mathurin to the floor.

Harden’s textbook step-back move to generate — and bury — a wide-open three-pointer occurred after his team’s lead had dwindled to single digits in the final quarter. And that highlight play ignited the run that propelled the Sixers to finish off the Indiana Pacers, 120-106, Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center to secure their first victory of the 2022-23 season.

“The last time I did that, I airballed,” said Harden, referring to a move he put on Boston’s Marcus Smart in last week’s season opener. “So I wasn’t trying to airball. I was trying to get the ball on the rim, at least. ... [I was] trying to create the best shot available and, as he went down, I felt like that was an opportunity.

“I [saw] Jo [Embiid] out of the corner of my eye on the right-hand side, but I had to get my revenge.”

The Sixers (1-3) led by as many as 20 points early in the second half but needed to hold off a Pacers rally. Still, coach Doc Rivers was far more pleased with his team’s offensive pace and ball movement, which generated better shots. The Sixers went 19-of-43 from three-point range and had 25 assists — and set a shootaround goal to get the ball over halfcourt within the first four seconds of the shot clock.

“It’s how we have to play every night,” Rivers said. “We have to be consistent in it. The spacing was right. The execution in the first half was really good out of timeouts. But [it was more about] the right spirit of the pass.”

After Indiana cut the Sixers’ lead to 103-95 on an Isaiah Jackson dunk with less than seven minutes to play, Harden hit his first step-back three-pointer from the right wing before shaking Mathurin to put the Sixers back up by 14 with 5:20 remaining. By the three-minute mark, the Sixers’ advantage had ballooned back up to 20 points.

The Sixers initially used a 26-10 run — capped by a Harden jumper — to build a 19-point lead at 48-29 in the second quarter. That advantage grew to 71-51 on two Embiid free throws shortly after halftime.

Harden’s near-triple-double (29 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds) led a Sixers squad that had five players finish in double figures. Embiid added 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting and five rebounds.

The Pacers, who played without standout center Myles Turner (sprained ankle), were led by Tyrese Haliburton’s 19 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds.

After amassing only 34 points over their first three games, the Sixers’ reserves provided a legitimate punch with 36 points Monday night.

“They touched the ball,” said Rivers, repeating a phrase from his pregame news conference. “ ... Now when you actually get a shot, you’ve actually touched the ball [previously].”

Georges Niang finished with 13 points on 3-of-6 from three-point range, while De’Anthony Melton scored all 11 of his points in the first half and added five rebounds. Danuel House notched five quick points right after entering the game late in the first, and was praised for his “flip picks” that freed up Harden. Montrezl Harrell drew three fouls late in the first, then went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Paul Reed got three minutes at the end of the second quarter and another six minutes after the break.

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Shake Milton also made his season debut, playing four first-half minutes. Rivers said after the game that he wants to expand the rotation by one player, presenting Milton with his opportunity.

“We liked the rotation today,” Rivers said. “ ... It went about the way we scripted it out before the game.”

Rivers continued to deploy an unconventional (and, he hopes, temporary) rotation pattern for Embiid, whom Rivers said lacks conditioning because of plantar fasciitis he dealt with in the lead-up to training camp. Within those minutes, Rivers lauded Embiid’s patience to keep the ball moving when the Pacers trapped him.

“Like I always say, I can’t win alone,” Embiid said. “I need to make sure my teammates feel good about themselves and that they can touch the ball and feel the ball. That’s going to make everybody happy, and that’s one of those nights where you’re 0-3 and trying to get a win and trying to get everybody involved. ...

“That was really the plan going into the game: trying to make sure everybody touches the ball and the ball moves side to side. No more over-dribbling. I try to make sure the team has an identity where we just know what to do.”

Embiid was the first Sixer to sub out of the game midway through the first quarter, but he returned for the final 1:14. He departed again less than five minutes into the second frame, then came back at the 4:44 mark. With the Sixers leading by double digits, Reed then played the final three minutes.

Embiid got another quick break at about the five-minute mark of the third, then returned for the final 2:11, which included a thunderous dunk. Embiid started the fourth but left less than two minutes into the quarter after he quickly picked up his fourth and fifth fouls. He came back about midway through the final period and played until garbage time.

“We’re going to stay on that for right now,” Rivers said before the game. “I don’t love that with him, but I think it gives him an opportunity for him to play all-out for shorter spurts, and I think that’s good for him.

“One thing [I’ve] learned over the years is that, when you put a guy in and you play him 10 or 12 minutes [in one stretch], if he reaches the point of where he’s exhausted, sometimes they never come back from that. So we don’t want that to happen. We want him to be fresh through the game.”

The Sixers will embark on their first extended road trip of the season, playing at the Toronto Raptors Wednesday and Friday, at the Chicago Bulls on the second night of a back-to-back on Saturday and then at the Washington Wizards on Halloween night.

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