Jan. 20, 2026, 5:30 a.m. ET
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers avoided an upset on Monday when the lowly Indiana Pacers paid a visit on Monday. The Pacers entered with the worst record in the Eastern Conference and held a 10-point lead in the second quarter, but the Sixers were able to right the ship and win it 113-104.
Tyrese Maxey had 29 points and eight assists along with a career-high eight steals for the Sixers. Joel Embiid had 30 points, nine rebounds, and four assists, Dominick Barlow added 11 points, seven rebounds, and two steals. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 18 points and five assists, and VJ Edgecombe had 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Here are the three biggest takeaways following the win:
Maxey’s thievery
Maxey was all over the place on the defensive end. He stepped up and made a ton of plays as he made a big impact with his thievery. He finished with eight steals, but he could’ve had a handful more in an effort to get the Sixers out and running. His ability to come up with the steals he did in this one allowed Philadelphia to get some much-needed easy buckets as the half-court offense wasn’t able to get much going against the Pacers in this one.
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“I’ve mentioned this before, we’ve tried to amp him up a little bit in reading some of the stuff and he’s, obviously, doing some prep on that and thought process on that,” coach Nick Nurse said. “He had eight. He almost had another five, I thought. I think they’re important because a lot of them lead to some layups at the other end, too. Just disruptive and really making some good reads on that. Didn’t get hurt much from it either which is always good, yeah.”
Oubre providing a spark
The Sixers needed somebody to provide some real, downhill scoring in the half-court and Oubre provided it. There were a number of times when he attacked the basket and used his herky-jerky style to finish up and over taller defenders at the rim. The Sixers had a tough time attacking the Pacers outside of Oubre and Embiid in those half-court sets, and the 11-year veteran out of Kansas was able to step up and give Philadelphia that much-needed offensive attack. Not just the offensive production, but also help with the playmaking and his defensive effort.
“That was a big thing,” Nurse added of Oubre. “He got downhill about two or three times to start the game. I think that’s always a good sign for him. I think it was his best overall game. Forget the overall scoring—even though it’s always needed and nice—but it felt like he just looked a lot more comfortable.”
Walker and Barlow doing the little things
Walker had a big second half as he had five points and six rebounds along with three steals after halftime. He knocked down a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter and helped spark the final run the Sixers used to knock off the pesky Pacers. Barlow, meanwhile, had 11 points, seven rebounds, and two steals of his own as the two of them helped lead the charge on the defensive end. The Pacers committed 24 turnovers on the night and the two players on the two-way deal stepped up in a big way for this group.
“They’ve been great,” said Maxey. “They’ve been great. They add a different dimension that we hadn’t had in a while, like, at the 4 spot as far as like defender, they can knock down a shot here and there, rebounding. That’s really what is. Rebounding, man. Jabari rebounds like he’s a monster and Dom is, too. So, they just kind of like split those minutes, and they’re doing good.”