That Pacers e Sixersbetween ailments and serious absences, were not at their best, it was clear in the first two matches played in the season, which ended with a victory and a defeat for the former and with two defeats for the latter, and a bit of rust also emerged in the The beginning of the traditional challenge NBA Sundays alla Gainbridge Fieldhouse at Indianapolis. Defensive mechanisms far from the perfection to which it contrasteda few too many errors in attack they scored the 1° quartofinished ahead 28-23 from the guests, good at finding answers in the depth of their roster. Without Joel Embiid and Paul Georgeexpected to return to the field shortly, Philadelphia manages not to sink into the 2° quarto despite the less-than-stellar night from the team’s third star Tyrese Maxey. To drag the Sixers he is one of the new faces arriving in the summer, the veteran Eric Gordonwho closes the first half of the match with 12 pointsby far the best of his team. On the other hand, however, Indiana the game begins to grind out in the second half and the eleven players sent to the parquet by the coach Rick Carlisle is the only Bennedict Mathurin did not register among the scorers. It’s one tripla on Kyle Lowry just before the break to bring the guests closer together on the 58-52.
Challenge to the last basket, Maxey decides
The progress of the match does not change when the teams return to the field, Tyrese Haliburton try to push i Pacers with two triples in the heart of the 3° quartothe first of which arrived after sending it to the floor Lowry with a body feint. That, however, is the moment when it starts moving again Maxeywhich a 5:30 to be played in the quarter reports the score tied at 68 and forces Carlisle al time out. Not that the intervention of the coach of Indiana serves a lot, or rather, why Maxey place another partial of 5-0 with which he carried on his own 69-75 and forces Carlisle to stop the game again. The response of Pacers is signed by T.J. McConnellwhich raises the team’s energy level on both ends of the pitch and at the end of the quarter i Sixers I’m only one point ahead 77-78. And, between some awkwardly lost balls and some individual exploits, the game continues in a point to point which seems to reward Philadelphiamore lucid in managing the last possessions. On the other side Haliburton he loses two very precious balls, but scores the triple on the backbeat which sends everyone to overtime on 105-105. An extra time in which he takes the chair again Maxeywho scores the decisive baskets and also proves to be very effective in defense and, despite a potentially dangerous missed pass on the line, leads his team to the first win of the season.
