Recap: Indiana vs. Philadelphia
Sports Network | November 14, 2008
Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - Thaddeus Young scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers erased a 26-point first-half deficit and came back to edge the Indiana Pacers, 94-92.
Andre Miller scored 19 points, and Elton Brand had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Sixers, who have won consecutive games for the first time this season. Willie Green scored 14 points off the bench, and Andre Iguodala had 10 points and 10 boards for Philadelphia, which pulled to within a game of .500 on the season, at 4-5.
"It would have been easy, when you get down 26 points, to just stop playing, but we kept playing," said Sixers head coach Maurice Cheeks.
Danny Granger had 18 points and six rebounds for the Pacers, who saw their three-game win streak come to an end. Marquis Daniels scored 17 points and collected 10 boards, and T.J. Ford had 12 points, seven assists, and five rebounds for Indiana.
After trailing by 26 points early in the second quarter, the Sixers pulled to within seven points midway through the fourth quarter. A Brand jumper kicked off a 13-2 Philadelphia run to take the lead. Iguodala tied the game at 90-90 on a free throw with 3:14 left, and a driving layup by Miller put the Sixers in front with 2:47 to play.
Two Young free throws put the Sixers up by four, but a Granger jumper with 43.2 seconds left made it a two-point game.
Brand missed a jumper, giving the Pacers life, but a missed three-pointer by Daniels was rebounded by Brand, and the Sixers held on.
Philadelphia couldn't buy a bucket at the start of the game, and performed just as poorly on the defensive end. Granger drilled two early threes, and he and Daniels each scored eight points on a 22-2 Pacers run to start the game. Daniels scored 13 points in the first quarter, which saw Indiana take a 38-13 lead.
"I just thought our defense was not up to par," said Cheeks. "They just beat us down the floor every time down the court."
The Pacers lead peaked at 39-13 on a Brandon Rush free throw in the first minute of the second quarter, but then the Sixers made their push. Philadelphia outscored the Pacers 36-19 in the frame, led by 12 points by Young, and trimmed the deficit to 57-49 at the half.
The Pacers lead held at 78-71 entering the final 12 minutes.
The game featured the meeting of the Rush brothers. Kareem, 28, a former Pacer, missed his only shot in 13 minutes off the bench for the Sixers, while Brandon, 23, had five points in 17 minutes for the Pacers...Jeff Foster finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for Indiana, and Radoslav Nesterovic had 10 points and six boards...Brand made just one of his first 11 shots, and finished 4-of-17 from the field...The Pacers swept three matchups with the Sixers last season and had won three of four at Conseco Fieldhouse.
