Remember the literal one game when things were looking up for this team? That was fun.

The Sixers fell to the Indiana Pacers 121-107 Friday night. Philadelphia also lost Joel Embiid after he was hit in the face in the second quarter.

Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers in scoring with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting, but only took one shot in the fourth quarter. Paul George had a quiet first three quarters, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Tyrese Haliburton led all scorers with 32 points.

Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.

First Quarter

• After a 3-of-4 start from the field, the Sixers’ offense got into an early funk. They committed silly turnovers including Kelly Oubre Jr. just stepping in bounds trying to inbound the ball, and Guerschon Yabusele fumbling a bounce pass that gave him a wide open path to the basket.
• They did start to get better looks but they just didn’t fall as they fell into a scoreless stretch that lasted nearly five minutes. Embiid had a jumper and a layup both go halfway down and out. The first quarter has not been kind to him so far this year. He found a wide open KJ Martin on the baseline to snap the drought.
• Despite rolling out some inverted zones with their bigs up top, the Pacers shot it well from deep all quarter. Even with the heave at the end, they were 6-of-14 from beyond the arc. On the other end McCain checked in and got a quick five points, a team-high for the Sixers as they trailed by nine after the first.

Second Quarter

• KJ Martin and Ricky Council IV had some solid moments on offense, but it was still a struggle to close the gap. Martin seems to have found his niche on offense — he knocked down a corner three and was found for another layup off a cut. Council had a couple successful drives, including a wild up-and-under layup.

• They were able to chip away a bit as they looked slightly better on defense. George wasn’t up to much on offense but blocked a couple of shots. Embiid got going a bit with a blend of jumpers and trips to the free throw line.
• Despite that, it was tough for the offense to get into a groove because they couldn’t stop giving the ball away. They had 12 turnovers as the Pacers had a 13-5 edge in fast break points. Meanwhile the Sixers only had 11 assists on their 18 made field goals in the half. To pile on, Embiid left the half seven seconds early after getting inadvertently smacked on the face by Benedict Mathurin. The Pacers led by 11 at the break.

Third Quarter

• It just doesn’t stop this year, does it? Embiid was not out there to start the second half — McCain filled in and Yabu slid down to the five. He was ruled out minutes later due to “impact to the right side of the face.”

• Things started to slip away on the court as well as the Pacers started the half 6-of-9 from the floor. The Sixers were still making shots, just not nearly at the same rate. Then Jared McCain took a hard fall on a drive and hit his head on the ground pretty hard. He wanted to take the free throws but the Sixers wisely had him go back to the locker room. Thankfully it was a quick trip for him as he was shortly back on the bench and checked back in minutes later.
• The Pacers’ lead swelled as Haliburton was able to get anything he wanted to at the rim on top of having a good night from three. The Sixers kept fighting and were somehow able to end the quarter on an 11-2 run to keep it a seven-point game.

Fourth Quarter

• It was a pretty passive game for George who had only taken six shots through the first three quarters. He got a quick six points up to start the quarter, but all of his looks continue be what he creates for himself. Life would be so much easier if they found a way to get him more catch-and-shoot looks.

• At the rate he’s going, KJ Martin will soon pass his three-point attempts from all of last season. He knocked down his second of the night from the corner to cut the lead to six. Like many of his teammates though, he split his pair of free throws when he got to the line a few moments later. Despite taking 15 more free throws than Indiana the Sixers shot 71.9% from the line. Leaving that many points on the board is becoming a common occurrence for a team that came into tonight 21st in free throw percentage.
• An extended 12-0 run that spread over a timeout was the nail in the coffin for tonight. On top of the injury and injury scare, the Sixers played well for maybe like seven minutes tonight, and on most nights that’s not going to get it done.
• The Sixers can try to bounce back as they kick off a home-and-home with the Hornets. The first of those will tip off Monday night in Charlotte at 7 p.m. ET.