Philadelphia 76ers start most difficult stretch of season on high note

The Philadelphia 76ers’ victory in Indiana was a major positive at an important time.

Even with overblown reports of drama, the Philadelphia 76ers are chugging along just fine in the Jimmy Butler era. Now 21-10 since the star’s arrival, the Sixers are top-five in net rating during that span.

The most impressive win of the season came Thursday night, with the Sixers thoroughly outplaying the Indiana Pacers on the road despite numerous obstacles. It wasn’t a good Ben Simmons game and Joel Embiid was visibly hurt, but it didn’t matter. Philadelphia went on to win by 24 points, fresh off a 42-point win over Minnesota earlier this week.

Given the Sixers’ upcoming schedule, getting any win is a positive. Adding two convincing, momentum-building wins to the resume is impressive. The Sixers, who have struggled with depth all season, are finally showing signs of the Eastern Conference contender most pundits expected.

Elton Brand still needs to address the bench, but Brett Brown has made adjustments in the short-term. Jonah Bolden is now a full-time rotation member, ousting the ineffective Furkan Korkmaz in the process. Bolden gets the backup center minutes, while Mike Muscala spends his minutes at the four.

Korkmaz, in limited playing time, has been the Sixers’ weakest link most nights. Replacing him with Bolden — an energetic, versatile defender — and giving Wilson Chandler more minutes as the de facto small forward seems to be working.

Philadelphia also got one of Jimmy Butler’s best games as a Sixer on Thursday. The All-Star accumulated a team-high 27 points and eight assists on top of elite defense, stepping up while Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons got off to slow starts.

It wasn’t just raw production for Butler either. He was efficient, shooting 10-17 and hitting all six free throw attempts. He also found the right balance between Brown’s traditional sets and isolation buckets, scoring mostly within the flow of the offense.

If the Sixers are going to make the Butler fit work, that balance needs to be the norm. Embiid still gets the bell cow workload, but Butler’s self-creation adds a much-needed dynamic to the Sixers’ offense — a dynamic that will play a key role in challenging Boston or Toronto in the playoffs.

Indiana, for most of the season, has been better than Philadelphia. Coming into Thursday’s game, the Pacers held the second-best record in the NBA since Dec. 1, trailing only Golden State. Winning by 24, despite a half-speed Embiid and Simmons’ turnover woes, was quite the statement for a Sixers team looking to assert itself in the Eastern Conference hierarchy.

The Sixers lack quality wins, but do lead the season series 2-1 over Indiana. With the two teams in a statistical tie for third place, that season series could prove important down the stretch. It’s why Embiid wanted to fight through obvious pain.

Also, it’s worth noting how good Embiid was despite playing at half-speed for considerable portions of the game. He netted 22 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks, making several high-impact plays on both ends. All that, and he looked miserable running down the court or working his back on the sideline.

Some argued Embiid shouldn’t have played, but it’s in the past now. He played and was still the best player on the court. The dude’s a special, special talent.

The Sixers will host Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday at 3:30 PM E.T., providing the Sixers with another challenging opponent. The schedule won’t get an easier between now and the All-Star break, so the Sixers must be ready to run the gauntlet.