Andre Drummond has stepped up in Joel Embiid's absence, while even the Pacers' strength has shown weaknesses in certain areas.

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INDIANAPOLIS – As early as it was, the first weekend of the season felt a little late for the Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers.

With the score at 1-1 and 0-2, neither team had played well, preparing their matinee at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sunday for a lot of scratching, a lot of clawing and no little urgency and desperation.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse, with center Joel Embiid and winger Paul George still sidelined, didn't like the rhythm or performance of his healthy players. Rick Carlisle, his Indiana counterpart, felt his team lacked impact and considered the Pacers' home opener possibly “an absolute doozy of all time.”

It took five extra minutes for a team to go home feeling slightly better. That was Philadelphia, which emerged victorious thanks largely to guard Tyrese Maxey's 45 points. Here are five takeaways from the Sixers' 118-114 win:

1. The regular game became big and sloppy

For 46 minutes, it was a typical duel between two Eastern Conference hopefuls, both of whom played through problems and held on to a narrow lead for much of the fourth quarter.

But the final two minutes of regulation time and overtime were sloppy, silly and sideways. There were three challenges (each of which went Indiana's way), a technical foul on Nurse with 102 seconds left, and various physical gaffes and mental errors that made the outcome seem almost random.

The last official 17 minutes of the game lasted a full 60 minutes in real time.

Nurse was chastised by team captain Mitchell Ervin for talking too long about the clock after the referees confirmed via replay that Myles Turner had hoisted an airball. It could have been costly if Haliburton hadn't missed the free throw.

The Indiana guard missed twice more and had a chance to force a second OT. But when Haliburton missed the first round, 116-114, with five seconds left, he had to intentionally miss the second. The Sixers recovered, and that was that.

In between, Philadelphia missed a foul to maintain its 105-102 lead as regulation time expired. Haliburton, looking for free throws, instead clumsily hit a three-pointer from the left wing. At a similar point in overtime, the Sixers drew at least one foul with a 115-112 lead.

2. Tyrese vs. Tyrese

Neither Maxey nor Haliburton had performed well in his team's first two games, creating an individual matchup in which the All-Star point guard who performed better on Sunday would likely lead his team to victory.

Maxey did it. After shooting 16 for 54 (29.6%) against the Bucks and Raptors, he had another great performance. For those 45 points, he went 14-32. 38 came after halftime, 24 in the fourth quarter plus overtime.

“Things weren't going well for him at the beginning, but he never gives up,” said teammate Eric Gordon. “Because when it gets going, it’s a huge problem.”

Maxey said: “Everyone on our bench, coaches and players included, after I missed my first seven (or however many I missed), they just said, 'Don't stop shooting.' They said, 'Dude, you know who you are.'”

As a nod to the home market's heritage, the Pacers' game ops team sometimes plays vroom-vroom race car sound effects. But it was visitor Maxey who laid rubber for most of the afternoon.

3. Haliburton still looks undecided

A scoreless performance in New York on Friday prompted a predictable and sensible response on Sunday: Haliburton worked harder to get into the groove and score a little more easily from inside or at the line.

It worked for a while — the Pacers' young leader even had a moment when he tricked Sixers guard Kyle Lowry into falling down the sideline and then dodged into an open three-pointer.

In the end, however, Haliburton shot 4-9 from inside and an identical 4-9 from outside. He missed three of his five foul shots and had three turnovers with just four assists. Indiana was nine points worse in the 37:18 he played.

4. Time to tighten up the rotation?

At least Philadelphia knows the cavalry is coming. Embiid and George, both with knee problems, are expected back soon.

The Pacers, on the other hand, need to dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves in. They are healthy. Perhaps too healthy as Carlisle tries to play with 10 or 11 players most nights.

The OT session added a few extra minutes to Sunday's game, but there are reasons why many NBA teams try to stick with nine-man rotations. Especially at this time of year, players try to get into a certain flow or rhythm.

On the other hand, the Pacers' starting five hasn't shown much success, outscoring them 193-104 in the last two games.

Indiana's backfield is crowded. Reserve TJ McConnell has been the best playmaker so far, while Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin make up the small forward spot.

Rebounding is also a problem. The Pacers were beaten (54-37) by a Sixers team that received a blow to the glass (54-28) in Toronto on Friday. Philadelphia converted 20 offensive rebounds into 25 second-chance points. One would have thought that Embiid and his size advantage would have shown up after all.

5. Tall man, smooth hands

Andre Drummond, the Sixers' backup center who is filling Embiid's spot for now, had 17 rebounds. No wonder – the big man led the NBA in rebounding four times during his time with Detroit. But Drummond's two late steals in regulation were crucial.

First he fended off Andrew Nembhard's dribble, triggering a three-pointer from Caleb Martin. Moments later, he stripped Haliburton as the point guard rose to shoot.

The 6-foot-1, 279-pound Drummond, 31, ranks second among active NBA players in rebounding. But he also ranks fifth in steals and finished in the top 20 in this category five times.

“It’s all about timing,” Drummond said. “When I see the guard come down, the first thing they usually try to do is figure out what I'm going to do, whether I'm going to be aggressive or not. Once they’ve mastered the lazy dribble, I’ll do it.”

Maxey said: “He always drops, drops, drops, and then he swipes. He caught me a few times when he was in Chicago.

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Steve Aschburner has been writing about the NBA since 1980. You can send him an email Herefind his archive here And Follow him on X.

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