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The Philadelphia 76ers trotted out a starting five of James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, De’Anthony Melton, and P.J. Tucker on Wednesday night. Doc Rivers thought he could push the pace with a three-guard lineup as Joel Embiid sat out with a foot injury. It worked in spurts, but no one was ready to print up shirts with those five faces on the front.
Maybe in time, once Maxey gets his Road Runner legs back. He and Melton could turn the rest of the Association into a bunch of Wile E. Coyotes, with James Harden playing the role of ACME. His well-traveled wheels aren’t fast enough to keep up at age 33.
“Them two, with the speed,” Harden said, deferring to Maxey and Melton. “Them two, not me.”
But Harden’s smarts make up for his speed. He put it all on display in a 129-126 overtime victory against the Indiana Pacers. Sure, the Sixers struggled defensively with their small-ball lineup to start the game, but counter moves came swiftly. Rivers subbed Matisse Thybulle for Maxey with 5:49 left in the first quarter, then he swapped Montrezl Harrell for Tucker at the 4:40 mark.
Slowly, the Sixers inched back from a 6-point deficit and closed the frame on a 14-9 run. Rebounding was the biggest issue as the team had to contend with Myles Turner (6-foot-11) and Jalen Smith (6-foot-9) in the paint.
“I just think the way [the Pacers] play with their speed. I thought we could match it,” Rivers said. “So, that’s why we went that way.”
Rivers went back to the three-guard lineup in the second half, adding Shake Milton to the mix. He watched the Sixers build an 11-point lead late in the third quarter before size and rebounding became a problem again. Back came Harrell who finished with 19 points in 28 energetic minutes.
“That lineup is great offensively for sure,” Harden said of the smaller lineup. “It gives us spacing, it gives us dribble penetration, but the main thing you gotta focus on is defensively and rebounding. I think we did a solid job through spurts of the game, but I think we gotta do a better job of rebounding the basketball because it’s a small team when that lineup is in the game. The more we get better at it, comfortable with it, the better we’ll be at it so that was a great start.”
Harden finished with 26 points in 43 minutes, including the key block to essentially salt the game away. Maxey had 17 points, with Melton contributing 19 points. That all adds up to a pretty good night from their experimental three-guard lineup.
Harden Preaches Patience with Maxey’s Injury
Tyrese Maxey scored 17 points and dished out 6 dimes in his third game back from a small fracture in his left foot. It’s a similar injury to what Harden – diagnosed with a foot tendon strain – had been dealing with in November. The future Hall of Famer is just now getting back to normal, and he’s been in Maxey’s ear about staying patient.
“We went through the same injury basically, so I told him that it’s not going to happen in the first couple of games,” Harden said. “It might take you 7 or 8 games to really feel like yourself. Slowly but surely, game by game, you’ll start to feel like yourself. Get to the basket, shot … you know, his legs gotta get under him. He did a great job tonight.”
Maxey started against Indiana and played big minutes down the stretch. His 37 minutes was his highest total since November 13.
“I was so happy for Tyrese,” Rivers said. “Getting his legs and playing big minutes tonight. I think all those things were good.”
Sixers Stretch Home Winning Streak to 11 Games
The Sixers beat the Pacers 129-126 in overtime to stretch their home winning streak to 11 straight games. They haven’t lost at Wells Fargo Center since November 19. Wait, it gets better. Philadelphia has now won 11 out of 13 contests home and away. They just keep finding new ways to win and reinvent themselves despite a slew of injuries. No Embiid? No problem.
“These are the games, and these are the times, where you find out who your team is,” Harden said. “Injuries or guys go down or whatnot, you know what I mean? Are you going to make an excuse? Or are you going to just keep pushing through?
“Now we’ve done a really good job of pushing through, to some point all of us has been out, so we find a way to just keep pushing and pushing and eventually everything’s going to come together for us. We’re healthy, we catch a rhythm, we get on a roll, so we just gotta be patient with it.”
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