Sixers pay tribute to Kelly Oubre Jr. after he suffered broken ribs in hit-and-run… as Tyrese Maxey scores 50 points in win vs. Pacers: ‘We missed him tonight’

Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 50 points, Joel Embiid had 37 points and the Philadelphia 76ers improved to 8-1 with their eighth straight victory, defeating the Indiana Pacers 137-126 on Sunday night.

Philadelphia played without Kelly Oubre Jr. after breaking a rib when he was hit by a car in an accident on a street in Philadelphia’s Center City on Saturday evening. After the game, Oubre’s teammates sent him a video of the post-game locker. room celebration after he couldn’t get him on FaceTime. ‘

“I’m sure Tyrese has thought about today’s game and we’ve all thought about it,” Embiid said.

“We just want him to take his time, recover and know that we have his back. He is needed because he is a big part of us. We missed him tonight, but he has to take his time.”

Maxey was 20 for 32 from the field and had seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the first of back-to-back games in Philadelphia between the teams. His previous high was 44 against Toronto on October 28, 2022.

Philadelphia played without Kelly Oubre Jr. after he broke a rib when he was hit by a car on Saturday

A Sixers fan holds up a sign in support of Oubre Jr., who is facing a significant injury

Maxey’s final basket came on a 32-foot step-back 3-pointer with 1:05 to play after Embiid — who has nicknamed Maxey “The Franchise” in previous interviews — passed him the ball and set a screen to block him. liberate .

“Joel wanted me to get fifty more than myself,” Maxey said. “When he gave me the ball, he said, ‘You’re going to shoot this basketball.’ And that’s why I appreciate my teammates, my coaches and the fans. It was a great night and we won, that’s the most important thing.’

Embiid had 13 rebounds in 33 minutes. The 76ers are off to their best nine-game start to the NBA Finals since they started 10-0 in 2000-01.

“We play together and trust each other,” Embiid said. “It may not look like we didn’t play defense tonight, but (Indiana) plays so fast that it’s unbelievable with the pace. So they will score a lot, but we just participated. We let our guard down for a moment, but we had Tyrese to help close it out.”

“We were all thinking about it … we missed him tonight,” said Joel Embiid, who had 37 points

Maxey went 20 for 32 from the field and had seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks

Tyrese Haliburton led Indiana with 25 points and Myles Turner had 22. The Pacers had won three in a row.

“This is one of the two or three best teams in the entire league and we know that,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. ‘There are certain things we can and will do better on Tuesday. We have to look at them, be honest about what they are and make those adjustments.”

After trailing by 19 in the first half, Indiana took its first lead early in the fourth quarter at 105-104 on Aaron Nesmith’s jumper in the paint. The 76ers pulled away on an 18-6 run, capped by Maxey’s putback of a foul shot by Patrick Beverley.

“There were stretches where they really got going and we couldn’t shut the water off there,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “But we really got it done in the fourth.”

Maxey rose to average 28.6 points in his new role as floor leader in the wake of James Harden’s trade to the Los Angeles Clippers.

“I had missed the open threes and I kept telling my uncle I couldn’t keep missing them,” Maxey said. “Tonight they fell.”