How about the new guy? Pascal Siakam triple-double leads Pacers past 76ers

INDIANAPOLIS — Pascal Siakam posted a triple-double in his second home game and fourth overall with the Pacers and Indiana earned their first win in his tenure downing the third-place 76ers, 134-122, on Thursday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

The Pacers improved to 26-20. The 76ers fell to 29-14.

Here are four observations.

Pascal Siakam posts triple-double in second home game

On Thursday, Siakam faced off against Nick Nurse, who coached him when he was coming up with the Raptors and was in charge when Toronto claimed the 2018-19 NBA title. Nurse said in his pre-game news conference Siakam could be an easy fit with any team because of his ability to guard multiple positions and his ability to take on any offensive role. Nurse noted Siakam can create for others and create his own shot. He can be a ballhandler or a screener in the pick-and-roll, and he can hit 3s, get to the rim off the bounce and post-up.

Siakam proved his old coach right Thursday night by doing all of those things and posted his first triple-double since Nov. 2, 2022.

DOYEL: The kids Freddie Lewis helped didn’t know who he was. Now, they want his jersey retired.

INSIDER: How Ben Sheppard is reminding Pacers why they spent a first-round pick on him

Playing on the perimeter and the post as he does, the 6-8, 230-pound Siakam filled the stat sheet with 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. He had eight points, six rebounds and five assists in the first quarter alone and steadily poured it on from there. He hit one of his two 3-point attempts and was 7-of-10 at the free-throw line.

"It's Game 4, it's still early," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "... But he just has such a great vibe as a player. He's a player that you're drawn to as a fan just because of how he carries himself and how much joy he plays with."

Siakam's performance came the day after his first real practice with the team as he joined the Pacers on the first night of a road back-to-back and they took Monday off as a travel day as they returned from Phoenix. It wasn't a particularly long practice, but it gave the Pacers some better sense of how to integrate Siakam because they could play without having to deal with another team on the floor.

"I'm way more comfortable man," Siakam said. "That practice really helped me to get to know some of the stuff that we do. I'm a quick learner, I'm a visual learner, and I'm a sponge. The more I do these things the more I get the hang of it."

Pacers win with ball movement, balance and defense

Even with the win, the Pacers are still 5-6 in games without newly-minted Eastern Conference All-Star starter Tyrese Haliburton. However their wins without him have been impressive ones — four of the five came against teams that are at least in position to make the play-in round in the postseason. The 76ers and Heat, who they beat on Dec. 2 without Haliburton, are both in the top six in the East. Also, in four of those five wins, they have scored at least 125 points even without their leading scorer and the NBA's leader in assists.

The formula for Pacers' wins in those games has included ball movement, balanced scoring and at least solid defense, and on Thursday the Pacers got all three. They put seven players in double figures with Siakam finishing as the leader with 26, center Myles Turner scoring 20 and point guard Andrew Nembhard scoring 19.

They shot 57.0% from the floor and 12-of-28 from 3-point range and got 35 assists on 53 field goals. Point guard Andrew Nembhard finished with eight assists, Siakam recorded 10 and three other players had at least three. Point guard T.J. McConnell had five including his 3,000th career assist. Those passes set the Pacers up for a lot of easy buckets at the rim and they scored 68 points in the paint to finish with 1.20 points per possession.

"I've seen it playing against these guys so I know exactly what it is," Siakam said. "The speed of the game and just moving the ball and the pace, I don't think a lot of people can guard that. Once we're effective with that, if we do that and make it an emphasis, it's pretty hard to guard."

And on defense the Pacers kept the 76ers from blowing up despite their extensive firepower. They held the 76ers to 48.3% shooting from the field, including 7-of-29 from the 3-point line. Joel Embiid had 31 points and Tyrese Maxey had 22, but they needed a combined 37 shots to get those figures, and the 76ers finished with a modest 1.09 points per possession.

"I thought we did a good job on Embiid as a team," point guard Andrew Nembhard said. "Really just getting to the ball and understanding the scouting report the coaches put together. With a guy like Maxey, you just gotta make it tough on him. He's going to score the ball, you just have to keep chasing him and make it tough, be physical and match his energy."

Myles Turner solid in matchup with Joel Embiid

Joel Embiid has been a tough matchup for Myles Turner in the past, but of course he's also been a tough matchup for everyone. He is, of course, the reigning MVP and scored 70 points Monday night in his last game before coming to Indianapolis. He entered Thursday's game leading the NBA with 36.1 points per game and he'd scored at least 30 in his previous 21 games.

He still continued the streak Thursday night against Turner with 31 points, but Turner made him work for his buckets, holding him to 11-of-20 shooting, but more importantly not fouling him so much that he could live at the free-throw line. In the first two games against the Sixers in Philadelphia in November, Embiid was 12-of-14 and 17-of-17 at the line and scored 37 and 39 points, respectively. On Thursday, he was 7-of-10 from the line.

"In the past with him, I've got myself in foul trouble a lot just in the beginning of the game, first quarter, first half, and ended up having to sit most of the half," Turner said. "Now just mixing it up, not giving him a steady diet of one look. He's going to score his points. It's just making it harder on him."

Turner committed four fouls, but he still managed to play 27 minutes which allowed him to be productive on offense. He scored 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting including 3-of-6 from 3-point range and also grabbed nine rebounds and finished with an assist and two blocks.

"I've just been aggressive lately and I think that's the way I've gotta play," Turner said. "I feel like too many times in the past, even in the past in my career, I just passed up a lot of opportunities and tried to go with the flow. But I'm very confident in my game. I'm very confident in who I am as a person. I put in way too much work up not to at least get some looks up."

Bennedict Mathurin broke out of a funk

Second-year wing Bennedict Mathurin was one of the biggest reasons why the Pacers stunned the Kings in Sacramento last week when they were short-handed because of injury and the fact Siakam hadn't arrived after the trade yet. Mathurin scored 25 points on 11-of-21 shooting. However in the first three games of the Siakam Era, Mathurin seemed to struggle to find his place. He was a combined 1-of-16 from the floor with six points in losses to Portland and Phoenix. Against Denver on Tuesday he was a little better with 11 points, but still 3-of-8 from the floor.

On Thursday night he seemed to have his rhythm back, scoring 10 first-half points on 4-of-8 shooting by attacking the basket and showing exceptional mastery of the backboard. He also dished out three assists with some particularly slick passes. He finished with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting and four assists.

Indiana 134, Philadelphia 122

PHILADELPHIA (122): Batum 4-5 0-0 10, Oubre Jr. 2-5 0-1 4, Embiid 11-20 7-10 31, Beverley 1-6 2-3 4, Maxey 7-17 7-7 22, Martin 4-6 3-6 11, Reed 3-5 0-0 7, Korkmaz 1-2 0-1 2, House Jr. 4-6 2-3 10, Council IV 3-6 4-6 11, Springer 2-3 4-4 8, T.Smith 0-6 2-2 2. Totals 42-87 31-43 122.

INDIANA (134): Nesmith 6-8 1-1 16, Siakam 9-13 7-10 26, Turner 7-12 3-4 20, Hield 4-6 0-0 11, Nembhard 8-15 2-2 19, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Toppin 6-11 0-0 13, J.Smith 3-4 0-1 6, Mathurin 5-13 3-3 13, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, McConnell 4-6 0-0 8, Sheppard 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 53-93 16-21 134.

3-Point Goals—Philadelphia 7-29 (Batum 2-3, Embiid 2-4, Council IV 1-1, Reed 1-2, Maxey 1-8, Korkmaz 0-1, Martin 0-1, Oubre Jr. 0-2, Beverley 0-3, T.Smith 0-4), Indiana 12-28 (Nesmith 3-3, Hield 3-5, Turner 3-6, Siakam 1-2, Nembhard 1-3, Toppin 1-4, J.Smith 0-1, Mathurin 0-2, Sheppard 0-2). Fouled Out_Philadelphia None, Indiana 1 (J.Smith). Rebounds_Philadelphia 31 (Embiid 7), Indiana 55 (Siakam 13). Assists_Philadelphia 24 (Beverley, T.Smith 5), Indiana 35 (Siakam 10). Total Fouls_Philadelphia 20, Indiana 33. A_15,699 (20,000)

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Pacers beat Sixers behind Pascal Siakam triple-double