76ers at Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are two different teams at home and on the road and will try to keep their perfect home record intact when they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday in the first of a home-and-home set. The 76ers have a perfect record hanging in the balance as well but would prefer to end their string of 43 losses in October and November that dates to 2013.
The Pacers allowed the Charlotte Hornets to score 75 first-half points in a 122-100 road loss on Monday, which came on the heels of the team's best performance of the young season in a 111-94 home win over Chicago on Saturday. "We were a different team night and day from our last game against (Chicago)," Indiana coach Nate McMillan told reporters. "That effort and establishing the style of play both offensively and defensively is something you have to build consistency with. We are not seeing us play solid ball consistently." Philadelphia watched its home fans boo the team on the way out of the arena after getting crushed 109-84 by the Utah Jazz on Monday. The 76ers have yet to hold an opponent under 100 points and reached the century mark themselves twice in the first six games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN Philadelphia, FSN Indiana
ABOUT THE 76ERS (0-6): Philadelphia's bright spot continues to be rookie center Joel Embiid, who is playing under a minutes restriction after missing the last two seasons while recovering from multiple foot surgeries. Embiid might not have lasted much longer than his 19 minutes on Monday even with no restriction after managing to record five personal fouls and five turnovers along with 14 points and nine rebounds in the setback. Embiid is averaging 17.6 points and 4.4 turnovers in 21.2 minutes
ABOUT THE PACERS (3-4): Indiana knows about turnovers as well after its 18 miscues led to 35 points in the loss at Charlotte. Star forward Paul George registered five of those turnovers while scoring a season-low 10 points but was the only starter to log more than 21 minutes as the early blowout at least allowed McMillan to give his starters a longer rest. C.J. Miles scored 23 points to lead the reserves and is averaging 19.5 on 58.3 percent shooting in the last four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pacers G Rodney Stuckey (hamstring) sat out the last five games and is day-to-day.
2. Philadelphia SF Robert Covington went 3-of-4 from 3-point range on Monday after connecting on 3-of-26 from beyond the arc in the previous four contests.
3. Indiana took all three meetings last season by an average of 18.7 points.