Maxey's Fourth-Quarter Dagger Seals PHI's 114-109 Road Win
Tyrese Maxey's 25-foot step-back three-pointer with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter swung Indiana's win probability from 21% to 10%, effectively ending the game. Philadelphia walked out of Indianapolis with a 114-109 final, powered by four players scoring 20 or more points.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth chess match that refused to break open. Siakam got Indiana going early with a Nembhard-assisted layup, but Philadelphia answered every time — Embiid with a fade-away, LeBron James with a turnaround, Maxey with a pull-up. Indiana briefly grabbed the lead on a Larry Nance Jr. three at the 4:41 mark, pushing it to 17-14. That's when Anfernee Simons took over the quarter's final minutes: a 26-foot three, then a 24-foot running jumper in the span of 18 seconds to flip the lead to 22-17. Indiana clawed back to tie it 25-25 on Nembhard free throws with three seconds left, setting up a wild second quarter.
The second quarter is where Philadelphia broke Indiana's back — at least temporarily. Simons hit back-to-back threes from 25 and 27 feet, both assisted by LeBron James, and a James bank shot off a Maxey feed pushed the lead to 39-30. Philadelphia appeared to be pulling away, and the story of that nine-minute stretch looks like one of the most dominant offensive bursts either team produced all night. Indiana trimmed it to 41-32 by the half, but the damage was done.
Indiana clearly fought back in the second half — the final score of 109 confirms they made it a game — but Maxey's step-back three with 1:10 remaining in the fourth was the kill shot. That single play swung Indiana's home win probability from 21% to 10%, and Philadelphia closed it out 114-109. Maxey finished with 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Embiid added 21 points and 11 rebounds. Brown was quietly excellent with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Simons chipped in 20 points off the bench. For Indiana, Siakam was relentless — 26 points, 11 rebounds — and Nembhard's 14 assists kept the offense functional, but it wasn't enough. Five players sat out as coach's decisions across both rosters, though none of those absences appear to have been the deciding factor on a night when Philadelphia simply had more firepower at every level.