INDIANAPOLIS – Before his team faced off against the Indiana Pacers in a road test, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse smiled when asked if his message to his team was to find a way to play 48 minutes of cohesive basketball. After all, the Sixers' wins have featured uninspiring first halves and second-half dominance.

"I think 48 would be a lot to ask for," Nurse said. "I kind of alluded to it last time. I think that you’re always doing that at this stage of the season. You’re sitting there looking, hey, whether it’s 26, when can we take it to 28 or 30? And when can we just keep kind of pushing that up?"

On Wednesday night, the script flipped. The Sixers played an okay first quarter before dominating the second quarter, carrying a 10-point lead into intermission. Then came their worst period of the season by far: a 36-13 third quarter in favor of the Pacers, putting the Sixers in a significant hole heading into the final frame. That is when they returned to their original script, stampeding the Tyrese Haliburton-less Pacers in the fourth quarter to emerge with a 114-109 victory that did not need to be as stressful as it was.

Takeaways from a wild game in Indianapolis:

Comeback kids do it again

The Sixers appeared dead to rights early in the fourth quarter, with a raucous crowd rallying behind a red-hot Pacers team. The Sixers, once owners of a 15-point lead, wound up facing an even larger deficit.

But this team has too much offensive firepower to be counted out, and in the blink of an eye the lead had been trimmed down to just two points. LeBron James cashed in a big triple in between two critical ones from Anfernee Simons, then dished to a rolling Embiid for an acrobatic and-one finish. Jaylen Brown grabbed a Sixers miss and put it back. Tyrese Maxey drew a foul. And just like that... another script was flipped. The Sixers were back in the lead after mounting a 21-6 run in six minutes and 45 seconds. Coming out of the timeout, the Sixers assertively posted up Embiid and he found a cutting VJ Edgecombe for an and-one rim finish:

After Indiana free throws, Maxey set up Embiid for an easy jumper at the nail. As the Sixers continually set their defense and got stops, their offense surged. Embiid went the distance in the final frame – a jarring change of pace given what he was capable of doing this time a year ago, when he was limited to 20 minutes per game. When Andrew Nembhard finally got a bucket for Indiana, Embiid immediately responded with one of his own. Another stop earned the Sixers free throws via the defensive glass; Pascal Siakam got those points back with a jumper at the two-minute mark.

Leading by three points, Maxey drew a foul and split his two shots. Indiana went to a small-ball lineup with Obi Toppin at center; Siakam had to guard Embiid. Maxey crossed up defensive ace Aaron Nesmith with an absolutely nasty move before burying an enormous triple:

After Nembhard connected on a pair of free throws, the Sixers once again posted up Embiid. He commanded a double-team, kicked the ball out to James and one pass later, Maxey had buried another big-time three:

Despite one sloppy backcourt turnover, the Sixers had secured a dramatic, come-from-behind victory with that shot. They should not have been in the position to begin with, but they did what had to be done to send Pacers fans home disappointed.

Trust the matchups... sometimes?

After getting off to a slow start offensively in his first three games of the season, Embiid got going early on Wednesday. He scored six quick points and was a beneficiary of brilliant setups from James, the best passer – especially the best entry passer – he has ever played with. 

After some characteristically sluggish and heavy games to open the year, the Sixers were surely thrilled to see Embiid casually dominate early and often. His interior scoring to kick things off forced Indiana to react; with Ivica Zubac sidelined it was Jay Huff and Larry Nance Jr. taking turns trying and failing to handle the Embiid assignment.

And as soon as Embiid established that he could not be guarded one-on-one, the Pacers tried to apply more pressure and make someone else beat them. Embiid's assist total would not indicate it, but he trusted the pass and it worked out for him. After a brutal start – 1-for-4 from the field with three silly turnovers – Brown got going, with some of his points coming in the middle of the floor and others coming by getting all the way downhill. Maxey was up-and-down early, but James played what was by far his most comfortable game as a member of the Sixers.

James is a brilliant decision-maker, and he was particularly on the ball with his choices in the first half on Wednesday. He got Embiid going early, then found ways to assert himself as a scorer, either by overwhelming smaller Pacers with his size or knocking down jumpers. When the Sixers were at their best offensively, they catered to Embiid in a matchup that was particularly favorable for him. Their issues came when they strayed away from that.

It does not have to run through Embiid every night, but when the Sixers have all five starters available there will always be a mismatch somewhere. So it should always look like that in this respect: after finding an avenue for one of their stars to dominate, the Sixers fed him time and time again, until the attention they commanded opened up lanes for everybody else.

Haliburton's absence made offense a whole lot harder for Indiana, but it also gave them a chance to start five quality defenders. The Sixers still generated plenty of good looks, and for a while the Sixers were casually doing that nearly every time down. Everything they had going well on both ends of the floor completely cratered in their worst quarter of the season, and it is challenging to take away more positive than negative. But the blueprint is right there.

Anfernee Simons breaks through

Simons gave the Sixers a critical jolt on opening night, knocking down three third-quarter triples to help spoil the New York Knicks' ring night  Since then, he has been an unmitigated disaster. In his ensuing three games, the veteran sharpshooter shot a combined 3-for-21 from the field (2-for-13 on threes).

Nurse said over the weekend that the Sixers have a few players whose lack of preseason work has been evident early on in the regular season. Does that apply to Simons?

"Yeah, that's possibly it," Nurse said. "He didn't get any training camp time at all. Played a really great game [in New York], and like I talk about, it's hard to not play in training camp and in any preseason games, and then you get into that incredibly intense part of it, and it takes a toll. But I really like him. I think he's going to be an explosive scorer for us, and we'll get there with him for sure."

Simons broke through on Wednesday. After missing his first long-range try, Simons finally engaged in another heater. It started with back-to-back triples in the first quarter:

Simons knocked down two more triples in the second quarter, helping the Sixers surge to the tune of a 10-point advantage:

Simons' three-point shooting prowess is so meaningful that he will, on multiple occasions this season, swing a game in the Sixers' favor by going nuclear from long-range. Wednesday was just the first time.

Odds and ends

Two additional notes:

• The 2026-27 Sixers got their first chance to see old friend Kelly Oubre Jr., starting in place of Haliburton. Oubre initially defended Edgecombe, and while he predictably spent most of time defending Brown, he also guarded Maxey, a fun matchup after their three years as teammates. Oubre and Maxey were smiling at each other after the veteran swingman drew an offensive foul on the young guard and whipped out his signature celebration.

• This Sixers team seems to have a tremendous knack for beating buzzers. The latest example: Edgecombe's 50-footer to end the first half:

Up next: The Sixers will return home to kick off their second back-to-back of the season, which begins at home against the New York Knicks on Friday in the opening game of NBA Cup Group Play.