INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Joel Embiid kept making shots and James Harden kept finding open teammates.
The combination was all but unstoppable.
Embiid scored 42 points, Harden added 20 assists, 14 points and nine rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers broke open a close game with a decisive fourth-quarter run to beat the Indiana Pacers 147-143 on Monday night. Both teams put up numbers more closely resembling those of an All-Star Game.
Embiid went 11 of 16 from the field, made all 19 free-throw attempts and posted his 11th 40-point game this season. The 76ers shot 58.5 per cent, had six players in double figures and three with 20 or more points – Tyrese Maxey scored 24 and Jalen McDaniels had 20.
The Pacers shot 58.9 per cent with seven players in double figures – led by Tyrese Haliburton with 40 points and 16 assists – in just their second home game since February 16. Jordan Nwora added 16 points.
But one two-minute lapse was all Philadelphia needed.
“It was an offensive game,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “But at the same time someone had to make a defensive stand and we did that enough to win the game.”
With Philadelphia shooting 62.5 per cent overall and from three-point range through the first half and the Pacers sitting at 61.1 per cent from the field over the same span, nobody could take control.
Neither team led by more than six through the first three quarters.
Early in the fourth, Shake Milton and De’Anthony Melton made consecutive baskets to give the 76ers a 122-118 lead. Danuel House Jr followed with a three-pointer, and Milton closed out the 10-0 run with another three to make it 128-118 with 7:49 to play.
Indiana closed within 141-137 with 52.1 seconds to go but couldn’t get any closer.
