Tyrese Maxey on Sunday scored 10 of his 45 points in overtime to carry the Philadelphia 76ers to their first victory of the NBA season, a hard-fought 118-114 triumph over the Indiana Pacers.
Philadelphia had struggled in their first two games with former NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid sidelined by injury and newly acquired nine-time All-Star Paul George’s Sixers debut delayed by a knee injury, but Maxey made sure they got into the win column, shrugging off early shooting struggles to come through when it mattered.
Maxey made just two of six shots in the first half and missed his first seven attempts in the third quarter before finding his touch, drilling a jump shot with 2.3 seconds left that gave Philadelphia a 79-78 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Photo: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images / USA Today
Maxey scored 14 points in a fourth quarter that featured 10 lead changes. It went to overtime when Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton drained a three-pointer to tie it at 105-105 with 3.5 seconds left and Maxey was off target with a three at the buzzer.
Maxey made a three-pointer to open overtime and the Sixers never trailed. His big night came after he shot just 29.6 percent from the field over the first two games.
“I wasn’t so much disappointed in my offense the last two games, our offense as a whole — it was our effort,” Maxey said. “I was letting my offense affect my effort defensively. Today I was just going extremely hard defensively, kind of got going and we benefited from that.”
Caleb Martin added 17 points and 12 rebounds. Kelly Oubre had 14 points and eight rebounds, while Andre Drummond scored nine points with 17 rebounds.
Haliburton led the Pacers with 22 points — one of seven Indiana players to score in double figures.
Elsewhere, the Portland Trail Blazers and Brooklyn Nets notched their first victories of the season, Portland downing the New Orleans Pelicans 125-103 and Brooklyn fending off Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks 115-102.
Jerami Grant scored 28 points and Anfernee Simons added 27 as all five Portland starters scored in double figures. DeAndre Ayton scored 17 and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who never trailed in the second half.
C.J. McCollum led the Pelicans with 27 points, with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram contributing 14 apiece.
Portland’s win came two days after the Pelicans pulled off a two-point victory after trailing the Blazers by double digits at halftime.
In Brooklyn, Cam Thomas scored 32 points and Dennis Schroder added 29 to power the Nets in their first win under Spanish coach Jordi Fernandez.
The Nets emerged from a back-and-forth third quarter with an 83-78 lead and pulled away in the final frame with help from 11 points from Thomas.
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Damian Lillard added 21 points for the Bucks, who have lost two straight after winning their season opener.
Oklahoma City improved to 3-0 as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists plus three steals and three blocks to lead hosts the Thunder over Atlanta 128-104.
Chet Holmgren added 25 points and Jalen Williams scored 20 for the Thunder, while Trae Young led Atlanta with 24 points and NBA Draft top pick Zaccharie Risacher of France added 13 points for the Hawks.
James Harden had 23 points and 11 assists, while Ivica Zubac had 23 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Clippers over hosts the Golden State Warriors 112-104.
Golden State star guard Stephen Curry, a four-time NBA champion, left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS