Sixers sink Pacers behind Maxey’s 45

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Tyrese Maxey scored 10 of his 45 points in overtime to carry the Philadelphia 76ers to their first victory of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season on Sunday, a hard-fought 118-114 triumph over the Indiana Pacers.

Philadelphia had struggled in their first two games with former NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) 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 and drilled a 10-foot jump shot with 2.3 seconds left that gave Philadelphia a 79-78 lead going into the fourth quarter.

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 and 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.

The Portland Trail Blazers and Brooklyn Nets notched their first victories of the young 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 Blazers, who never trailed in the second half.

CJ 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.