The Sixers’ supporting cast showed up against Indiana. They vow to ‘to continue to get better.’
Tyrese Maxey was the center of attention on Sunday, but the contributions of two newcomers, Eric Gordon and Caleb Martin, also propelled the Sixers to a win.
INDIANAPOLIS — Sunday was a good starting point for the 76ers, who are striving to be formidable without Joel Embiid and Paul George.
The Sixers played with physicality that wasn’t always present during their first two games. They also did a solid job stopping the Indiana Pacers in transition.
“We are going to continue to get better,” Eric Gordon said after the 118-114 overtime victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “This is the worst, you know? You can never panic in this league. There’s too many games, an 82-game season. It’s too early. And we’re going to continue to get better and better.
“We’ve got guys with great attitudes who are wanting to win.”
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Tyrese Maxey received a lot of attention after he finished with 45 points. But the contributions of two newcomers, Gordon and Caleb Martin, also propelled the Sixers (1-2) to the win against the Pacers.
Gordon had 15 points in 31 minutes after averaging 5.0 points in 21.4 minutes in losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors. The sharpshooter’s presence gave Maxey space to maneuver, and the ball finally found Gordon, who took 10 shots and made five.
“We’re just going to continue to pick it up more and more,” the reserve guard said. “We are moving the ball a little bit better, and I love tough moments, tough situations. And that’s what I’m here for, to knock down shots.”
Gordon, in his 17th season, says he can still get to the basket and create his own shots.
“You know,” he said, “I just wanted to have that alertness to be aggressive [Sunday].”
Meanwhile, Martin finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds. But perhaps his biggest contribution came while assuming ballhandling duties in the second half. Free from the burden of distributing, Maxey was able to focus solely on scoring. And Martin kept finding the All-Star point guard, who scored 38 points after intermission.
“The biggest part with this team, you heard me say, I’ve got to learn what’s going on with this team,” coach Nick Nurse said of moving Martin to point guard. “It’s about [eight] new guys, trying to learn what looks good, what doesn’t. Most of that is Caleb is pretty good at getting the ball in the paint, and then that gives us extra shooting. Gives us better shooters to kick out so that’s kind of just the simple part.”
» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey turned it around and scored 45. Sixers coaches and teammates were with him all the way.
Martin’s performance confirmed that the Sixers can depend on the undersized power forward to initiate offense. That could play a major part in freeing up Maxey and managing minutes for Kyle Lowry.
Lowry started the last two games in the backcourt alongside Maxey. But the 38-year-old will slide back to his backup point guard role once Embiid (left knee injury management) and George (left knee bone bruise) return. The Sixers want to keep the minutes down for Lowry, who is in his 19th season, to safeguard him for the playoffs.
“I think it’s good we’ve got [someone] that’s almost like a point forward there,” Nurse said of Martin. “He can bring the ball up. He’s usually got a bigger guy on him, so there’s not a lot of heat on him back there.”