Philadelphia 76ers 114, Indiana Pacers 109: a 37-19 fourth erases a 13-point deficit

The Philadelphia 76ers went into the fourth quarter at Gainbridge Fieldhouse trailing by 13 and came out with a 114-109 win. A 37-19 final period, after a 36-13 third that went entirely the other way, decided Wednesday's game against the Indiana Pacers. It moves Philadelphia to 4-1 and drops Indiana to 2-3.

Tyrese Maxey led the way with 25 points. Joel Embiid (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Jaylen Brown (20 points, 10 rebounds) both finished with double-doubles.

How it was won

The first quarter was level at 25. Philadelphia then took the second 37-27 and led 62-52 at half. Its largest lead of the night was 15.

The third quarter undid all of that. Indiana outscored the Sixers 36-13 and turned a 10-point deficit into an 88-75 lead, which was also the Pacers' largest margin. Thirteen points in a quarter is the kind of number that usually ends a road game.

It didn't. Philadelphia scored 37 in the fourth and held Indiana to 19, a 31-point swing from the third quarter to the fourth. The Pacers, who had been living at the rim, scored only six more points in the final period than the Sixers had managed in the entire third.

The full box score shows how close this was on most measures. Indiana won the paint 46-36, got to the line far more often (28-35 against 20-23), out-rebounded Philadelphia 47-45 and assisted on 29 of its 35 field goals. Andrew Nembhard ran the offence with 18 points and 14 assists, and Pascal Siakam had 26 points and 11 rebounds. Aaron Nesmith added 18.

Where Philadelphia separated was shooting. The Sixers made 40 of 87 from the field (46 percent) against Indiana's 35 of 86 (41 percent), and hit 13 threes to Indiana's nine on the same 36 attempts. That 12-point gap from three outweighed the Pacers' edge at the line. Maxey went 3-7 from deep; Nembhard was 1-7 and Nesmith 3-9.

Turnovers were a wash, 16 for Philadelphia and 15 for Indiana.

Against the number

Philadelphia closed as a 7.5-point favourite and won by five, so Indiana covered. Anyone holding the Pacers with the points needed the third-quarter version of the game to last, and even after the fourth-quarter collapse the cushion held.

The total closed at 234.5 and the teams combined for 223, a clear under. A 13-point third for Philadelphia and a 19-point fourth for Indiana did most of the work there, along with 18 combined made threes on 72 attempts.

On the moneyline, Philadelphia closed at -278 and Indiana at +225. The favourite won outright, though at that price a five-point road win after trailing by 13 is not much of a return for the risk carried into the fourth quarter. The closing prices and line history are on the game page.

What's next

Philadelphia is home on Friday, October 30, against the New York Knicks, on Prime Video. The Sixers won the first meeting 106-100 at Madison Square Garden to open the season, and this is a chance to put Monday's 106-93 home loss to Detroit further behind them. Their four wins so far have come against New York, Cleveland, Milwaukee and now Indiana.

Indiana drops to 2-3. The Pacers' next opponent was not part of the information available to us at publication; we will add it to their team page when confirmed. They will take something from a night where they won the paint and the free-throw line, and something harder from a fourth quarter that gave it all back.