PHILADELPHIA, PA. — The struggling Indiana Pacers showed up in Philly on Monday night and got their doors blown off 130-114 as they suffered their fourth straight loss. It was over before it got started good. By the time I sat down and crossed my legs the 76ers were sprinting through Nate Bjorkgren’s squad like wet toilet paper.
At the break Philly was up 72-55 with the reserves dominating the second quarter. Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz finished with 26 points and 19 points respectively off of the bench to rally the troops for Doc Rivers squad.
Joel Emdiid did what he always does to Myles Turner. He completely dominated him with no problem finishing with 24 points and 13 rebounds in 27 minutes. Ben Simmons dropped off a smooth 18 points in 28 minutes.
Indiana struggled to find a rhythm all night shooting only 28 percent from behind the arc. Malcolm Brogdon led the Blue and Gold with 20 points. Edmond Sumner came off of the bench with 18 as Domantas Sabonis dropped off 15 points and 9 rebounds. Justin Holiday had 12 and Myles Turner finished with 11 points and only 3 rebounds.
When the shoe fell off early the Pacers had no answers. “When a bad play happens, we can’t let it snowball and let if affect other things that we do,” Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren said. Well…it did.
Brogdon who returned to the lineup after missing one game with a sore right knee had this to say afterwards. “This is not a losing team or a losing culture. This is not what we’re used to.”
Hopefully they can turn things around in Cleveland on Wednesday.