The Philadelphia 76ers are clearly a team on the rise with a good nucleus of young players and some veterans which bodes well for them in the long-term future; this same team in their game on Friday night against the Indiana Pacers, showed the masses at Conseco Fieldhouse that they could overcome some first-half jitters as they came from 26 points down to edge Indiana 94-92.

The Pacers started out blazing hot, shooting 59% and half of their three-point attempts in taking a huge 38-13 lead; it was a quarter of records as Indiana tied their season high in points scored in a quarter while Philadelphia tied a season low.  But the Sixers would slowly chip away at the Pacers’ lead, narrowing it to 57-49, thanks to a late free throw by Elton Brand; Thaddeus Young had 12 points in the period.  The Pacers would go into the third quarter nursing an 8-point lead.

Fast-forwarding to the fourth period, Philadelphia tied the game at 90 on Andre Iguodala‘s free throw with 3:14 remaining in the game and would take their first lead, 92-90, on a layup by Andre Miller; a pair of free throws by Young pushed the Sixers lead to 94-90 with 1:31 left.  A jumper by Indiana’s Danny Granger made it 94-92, and following a missed shot by Brand, the Pacers had a chance to tie or take back the lead.  But unfortunately for Indiana, Marquis Daniels‘ 3-point shot attempt came up short.

Young led all 76ers scorers with a season-high 25 points, 10 rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot while Miller added 19 with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots; Brand recorded a double-double, scoring 14 with 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots.  Indiana was led by Granger with 18 points (including three 3-pointers), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a blocked shot while Daniels added 17 with 10 rebounds, 3 assists and a blocked shot; Jeff Foster recorded a double-double, scoring 10 with 11 rebounds, an assist, a steal and 2 blocked shots.  Philadelphia (4-5) plays again on Saturday when they return home to host the Oklahoma City Thunder while Indiana (4-4) makes the short trip north up I-65 as they take on the Chicago Bulls – also on Saturday.