Next test for the 8-1 Sixers: Back-to-back games against the Pacers and Celtics

For the 76ers, the next two games are all about adjustments. How they handle those adjustments will be another defining test for the NBA’s only one-loss team.

The Sixers (8-1) have passed just about every trial that has come their way in the early part of the season. But this one — a grueling back-to-back at home — will be their toughest test.

Two days after beating the Indiana Pacers, 137-126, at the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers will host them again Tuesday night. And there’s more on the line this time. The rematch will also serve as an NBA In-Season Tournament contest. The Sixers and Pacers (6-4) are both 1-0 in the tourney’s East Group A pool.

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On Wednesday, Philly entertains the Boston Celtics for the second time in eight days. The Sixers defeated the Celtics, 106-103, in last Wednesday’s Eastern Conference first-place showdown, also at home.

Right now, the Sixers are the league’s hottest team. Their fans are savoring their NBA-best, eight-game winning streak.

But we’ll see how real the hype is in the next two games.

The Sixers will have a tough task of trying to beat a team twice in a row when they entertain the offense-minded Pacers. Then, 24 hours later, they’ll play a rested Celtics squad determined to avenge last week’s setback.

Just don’t tell that to Nick Nurse. The Sixers’ coach says publicly that the team is focused solely on Indiana.

“I think trying to zero in on what’s at hand,” Nurse said Monday after practice. “We used to all say, ‘Pitch your ace and pray for rain in the second one.’ So you are kind of like, get the first one done and then you start gearing up for the next one.”

But Nurse knows that this back-to-back will show how good his Sixers really are.

A victory Tuesday night would show that they can beat a good team twice in a row. And it would be a gigantic step if they beat the Celtics on the second night. Going 2-0 in eight days against a Boston squad favored to win the Eastern Conference would be huge.

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Right now, the Sixers are feeling good about themselves while playing at a high level. So it wouldn’t be surprising if they won both games. But the first step is trying to beat the Pacers.

The game could come down to Nurse’s strength: making adjustments.

But what adjustments will Indiana coach Rick Carlisle make to try to take Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, two players who combined for 87 points on Sunday, out of their games? And what adjustments will Nurse make to give the Sixers another advantage?

The Sixers coach is the master of making adjustments in games and in between them.

“To your question, there’s certainly going to be some adjustments made by both teams,” Nurse said on Monday. “You’ve got to try to be ready to counter [the adjustments], watch early what they are, what you think they are, and counter some of those.

“But probably more importantly than that is mindset. Like, we’ve got to understand that was a hard, tough game [Sunday] night, right? You’ve got to get your mind ready to play another hard, tough game.”

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Nurse doesn’t want the Sixers to get comfortable because they defeated Indiana. After the victory, several of the Sixers spoke about how the Pacers’ relentless, up-tempo style of play took a lot out of them.

“We’ve got to get ready, and almost push that one to the side and getting one,” Nurse said, “and playing well and playing better and making the adjustments and doing things a little bit sharper.”

Yes, Maxey received major headlines for scoring a career-high 50 points to go along with seven rebounds, five assists, and three blocks. Embiid added 37 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, seven assists, and one block to cap an Eastern Conference player-of-the-week performance.

A lot of their success came from relying heavily on the duo in the pick-and-roll to start the game. And that resulted in the two combining to score the team’s first 13 points. Nearly unstoppable, they actually scored 22 of the Sixers’ first 26 points on 8-for-11 shooting.

The Pacers believe the Sixers’ 30-10 advantage in second-chance points led to Maxey and Embiid having big games.

“We’ve got to look at all that stuff,” Carlisle said. “It’s stuff that we can fix, obviously. There were some that were particularly untimely, we’ve got to eliminate them. We’re on the road, we’re in a flat-out playoff environment. You know, this is the kind of challenge that we need, that we want, and we’ve just got to respond better.”

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So the Pacers are definitely trying to approach things differently. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Sixers respond.

And that’s why this back-to-back is another major test for the Sixers to see if they are who we think they are.