Sixers-pacers Preview: Haliburton Has Indiana Moving Again After A Lost Year

Sixers-Pacers preview: Haliburton has Indiana moving again after a lost year originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Indiana Pacers spent one season outside the Eastern Conference conversation. They did not spend it rebuilding.

Indiana reached Game 7 of the NBA Finals in June 2025. Tyrese Haliburton ruptured his right Achilles early in that game, missed the entire following season and watched the Pacers fall to 19-63.

Now Haliburton is back, several members of Indiana’s Finals core remain and the Pacers again expect to be part of the East race.

That is the team the Sixers will meet Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse — not the depleted group they swept last season and a different feel than the same one that came within a victory of an NBA championship.

Haliburton looks like Haliburton

Four games do not erase the work required to return from a torn Achilles. They have shown that Haliburton’s playmaking and creativity remain.

He is averaging 21.8 points, 9.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range. Haliburton has recorded 38 assists against nine turnovers.

That control is central to an Indiana system that has ranked among the NBA’s top five in both ball and player movement for six consecutive seasons.

Haliburton had 23 points and 12 assists in his first regular-season game in more than 16 months, leading Indiana to a 123-120 win over New Orleans. He followed it with 24 points and 10 assists Sunday against Brooklyn, including a self-assisted alley-oop off the floor that prompted a simple assessment from Rick Carlisle.

“He’s back,” the Pacers’ head coach said.

Haliburton then played 35 minutes on the second night of Indiana’s back-to-back and finished with 22 points and nine assists against Milwaukee. The Pacers led by 11 at halftime but lost, 110-102, after missing their final 10 field-goal attempts.

Afterward, Haliburton acknowledged that his conditioning and shooting legs are still returning.

“Just getting my legs back is the biggest thing,” Haliburton said Monday night. “It’ll take a couple weeks.”

The Pacers are 2-2 and have already experienced four very different games. They rallied to win their opener, allowed Dallas to score 77 first-half points in their home opener, routed Brooklyn and then gave away a second-half lead in Milwaukee.

As Haliburton said following the Dallas loss, “It’s not all fairytales, sunshine and rainbows.”

Wednesday will be Indiana’s second home game. Its first went poorly.

The Pacers trailed Dallas by 34 points at halftime and heard boos during Haliburton’s first game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in 490 days. Carlisle called it “one of the best crowds I’ve ever seen here,” but said his team did not compete well enough to reward it.

Both of Indiana’s wins have come on the road. The Sixers will get the Pacers’ second attempt to give their home crowd something to celebrate.

The Finals core has changed around him

Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Obi Toppin remain from Indiana’s Finals rotation. Siakam has led the Pacers in scoring at 23.5 points per game and is coming off a 20-point, 13-rebound performance against Milwaukee.

The frontcourt looks different.

Myles Turner left for Milwaukee following the Finals. Indiana acquired Ivica Zubac from the Clippers last February, sending Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and significant draft capital to Los Angeles.

Zubac gives Indiana a stronger interior presence than Turner did, but he changes how the Pacers play. Turner could space the floor by popping behind the three-point line. Zubac is a traditional screener and roller who does most of his work around the rim.

The Sixers may not see that version of Indiana on Wednesday.

Zubac sprained his left ankle Sunday against Brooklyn and is listed out. Jay Huff started in his place Monday, recording six points and six rebounds in 23 minutes. Larry Nance Jr., Toppin and Jarace Walker also received frontcourt minutes.

The Sixers have been vulnerable on the glass, but Indiana may not be positioned to exploit that weakness as well as expected. Without Zubac on Monday, the Pacers were outrebounded 61-48 and allowed Milwaukee to score 24 second-chance points.

That makes Joel Embiid’s availability especially important. Embiid sat out Sunday’s loss to Detroit for right plantar fasciitis management. With no back-to-back involved Wednesday, his status will be one of the key updates before tipoff.

More change, but familiar

The Pacers’ other significant addition is a familiar one.

Kelly Oubre Jr. signed a two-year, $17 million deal with Indiana after spending three seasons with Philadelphia. He started 150 of his 178 regular-season appearances as a Sixer.

Oubre started Monday with Nembhard sidelined and scored nine points in 23 minutes. His role against Philadelphia could extend beyond facing his former team. Haliburton praised Oubre for taking difficult defensive assignments while Indiana’s rotation has been depleted.

Nembhard is questionable Wednesday because of neck soreness. If he remains unavailable, Oubre could start and spend time against one of the Sixers’ primary scorers.

T.J. McConnell remains out with a hamstring injury, while Ben Sheppard is sidelined following meniscus surgery. On the Sixers’ side, VJ Edgecombe was a full participant in Tuesday’s practice after missing the Detroit game with an abdominal contusion. Tacko Fall also practiced fully.

Matchup to watch: Who gets the game moving?

Haliburton and Tyrese Maxey will not necessarily defend each other throughout the night. They will have the greatest influence over the game’s pace.

Maxey was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 28.8 points during the Sixers’ 3-1 start. Philadelphia’s best offensive stretches have often come when its defense creates opportunities for Maxey to attack before opponents can organize.

Haliburton looks for early outlet passes, advances the ball quickly and frequently initiates offense before the defense has selected its matchups.

That makes Philadelphia’s transition defense important. The Sixers cannot allow missed shots or turnovers to become open Indiana threes. When Haliburton is forced to operate against a set defense, the Pacers become easier to contain.

The same applies in the opposite direction. Without Zubac protecting the rim, Indiana may be more vulnerable when Maxey, Edgecombe and Jaylen Brown get downhill before its defense is set.

What Vegas thinks

The Sixers were 1.5-point favorites as of Tuesday afternoon. The total was set at 238.5 points.

That narrow line reflects the uncertainty surrounding both teams’ injury reports and Indiana’s uneven start.

Philadelphia swept last season’s series, 4-0. Haliburton did not play in any of those games. In the previous two seasons, the Pacers went 5-2 against the Sixers.

The Sixers already know how little last year’s results mean. The Pacers have their engine back.