Coming off just their second home loss of the season, a 127-124 defeat to the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday, the Philadelphia 76ers now have to deal with the freight train that is the Indiana Pacers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Wells Fargo Center.
Indiana has won five straight, including a 16-point win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, the team's seventh win in nine games. The Pacers have crept up to within a half-game of Philadelphia in the standings at 18-10 (the Sixers are 19-10) by relying on one of the deepest offenses in the league.
On Wednesday in the 113-97 win over the Bucks, Indiana had six players in double-figures (Milwaukee had four) and the Pacers' reserves outscored the Bucks' 34-25. Indiana's backups also stifled a Milwaukee offense that shot 41 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range, with Giannis Antetokounmpo finishing with just 12 points.
"That second unit is back intact and we want to continue to build off of what we are doing and establish ourselves as this team that keeps guys out of the paint and focuses on limiting rotations so that teams are trying to beat us over the top," head coach Nate McMillan said. "That way we can stay at home with our man, box out and rebound."
With Victor Oladipo back from a knee injury that sidelined him 11 games, Indiana is back at a full complement of players and climbing in the East.
"Guys stepped up and played huge," Oladipo said after his first game back. "Myles (Turner), Thad (Young), D.C. (Darren Collison) hit big shots down the stretch. I'm just glad to be back to help."
Oladipo's return complicates things for the 76ers, who could be without star Jimmy Butler for the second straight game with a strained groin. Butler's absence was missed against the Nets on Wednesday as Brooklyn shot 51 percent from the field, with Spencer Dinwiddie contributing a career-high 39 points off the bench.
"When you look at the bench scoring, we got hurt there tonight; I give their bench credit," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said. "I give Brooklyn a lot of credit. I think that they are a good team to begin with. I do not feel like their record reflects how good they are, I especially know that no matter what their record said, we struggle with that type of team and we did tonight. It doesn't discount for me that we do struggle with that type of team."
Even with Joel Embiid's 17 rebounds to go along with 33 points, the Sixers still managed to just tie the Nets in boards at 41 while Brooklyn made it to the free-throw line for an absurd 43 attempts, making an even more impressive 37 of them.
"I think that some of it was bad defense, some of it was let down schematically, some of our good shooters still getting off shots, I think it's a hybrid of them making some shots, us being a C- at times with our aggression and maybe a C schematically trying to execute a game with their individual players. I would put some blame proportionally all over the place."
