Philadelphia's injury list is shorter at the top and thinner up front. LeBron James sat out the Toronto game with lower-back and sciatica management, his 3rd missed game of the season, and nobody has said yet whether Sunday is a go. Behind Joel Embiid, the Sixers are short on centers. Adem Bona is out with a back injury and will be re-evaluated in about a week after seeing a specialist. Dominick Barlow is doing shootarounds but has no return timeline. Ariel Hukporti is gone for the year with a ruptured Achilles.
The good news for Philly is that the James-less version just held up. Toronto was up 9 after 1 quarter, then the Sixers won both the 2nd and 3rd quarters by 9 and pulled away to win 123-112. Tyrese Maxey scored 27 on 8-of-13 shooting with 8 assists, and Embiid added 20. Earlier in the stretch, James had his best scoring night as a Sixer, 22 points, while Maxey put up another 27 in a 127-121 win in Chicago. Maxey has been the steady part. Whatever happens with the other stars, he keeps getting to his number.
Philadelphia's recent losses are worth a look, though. The Sixers went 3-2 over their last 5, and both losses were blowouts: 119-95 in Cleveland and 123-101 at home to Boston. When this team loses, it tends to lose by 20, not by 3. Indiana's last 5 look like the opposite. The Pacers went 2-3 as of Thursday, with a 3-point loss in Dallas and a 4-point loss to Atlanta, then a 114-101 win over Washington. They hang around even when they don't win.
The matchup comes down to whether Indiana's guards can make Philadelphia pay for its missing size, or whether Maxey simply runs past a backcourt that is missing its best player. If James is back, Philly has a lot more weapons than Indiana does. If he sits again, the Sixers have already shown they can carry the load with Maxey and Embiid, at least against a shorthanded team on the 2nd night of a back-to-back. Indiana won't be on a back-to-back. It will come in off a Friday home game, a day off and a flight east, and it will be facing a team that has been comfortable at home against weaker rosters.
