Pacers hand 76ers 6th straight road defeat

LOS ANGELES, USA – TJ Warren scored 21 points and produced a big block with 29 seconds left Monday, January 13, as the Indiana Pacers extended the Philadelphia 76ers’ road woes with a 101-95 NBA victory.

In a battle of teams jockeying for playoff position in the Eastern Conference, Indiana notched their second win in 14 days over the 76ers, handing Philadelphia their sixth straight defeat on the road.

The Sixers have lost two of 3 since Joel Embiid was sidelined by a left hand injury and fell to 25-16 – just a hair behind the 25-15 Pacers for fifth place in the East.

The Pacers rallied from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to snatch the victory, withstanding a double-double of 24 points and 14 rebounds from 76ers guard Ben Simmons.

Malcolm Brogdon, who had played just 8 minutes since December 22 because of strep throat and a sore back, added 21 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists for the Pacers, who had knotted the score at 69-69 heading into the fourth quarter.

“We just hung in there,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. “It was obvious that our guys who came back tonight didn’t have a rhythm and that first group didn’t have a rhythm and really struggled for three quarters.

“I thought this was a good win in the sense that we didn’t play well and we were able to stay with it.”

Philadelphia’s Josh Richardson did what he could, scoring 9 straight points to put the 76ers up 95-94 with 2:03 remaining.

Indiana’s Myles Turner made a pair of free throws, and Brogdon added another from the line to make it 97-95.

Warren then blocked a three-point attempt by Tobias Harris as the Pacers held on.

The Boston Celtics, second in the East behind the Milwaukee Bucks, notched a convincing 113-101 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

The Celtics turned an early 8-8 tie into a 16-8 lead and never looked back, leading by as many as 18 points in the second half.

Jayson Tatum scored 21 points to lead six Celtics players in double figures. Jaylen Brown added 19, Enes Kanter 15 and Kemba Walker 14.

It was close in Detroit, where the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Pistons 117-110 in overtime.

Lonzo Ball scored the first five points of overtime as the Pelicans seized control. He finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists for New Orleans, who were led by Jahlil Okafor’s 25 points.

Derrick Rose led the Pistons with 23 points but went 0-for-2 and coughed up two turnovers in overtime. – Rappler.com