Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton Judges Defense vs. 76ers' James Harden

The Indiana Pacers’ backcourt knew they were going to have their hands full on Monday night when they faced the Philadelphia 76ers.

Before the game, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle pinpointed the team’s star trio of Joel Embiid, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey as something they were aware they would have “major problems” to deal with.

The youngest of the trio had an off-game. Checking in for 37 minutes, Maxey drained just three of his 11 shots from the field. He wrapped up the game with just eight points.

As expected, Joel Embiid helped lead the charge for the Sixers despite keeping his shots under 15 attempts. While Embiid collected nine of his points from the free throw line, the big man finished the game with 26 points in 28 minutes.

Meanwhile, James Harden led the Sixers in the scoring department for the third time in four matchups this year. After the game, Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton assessed Indiana’s defensive performance against the ten-time All-Star, that’s recognized as one of the best guards in the game.

“Obviously, he’s one of the best scorers ever to play the game,” said Haliburton. “He can score at all three levels. He does a good job of getting into your body. Strong and really knows how to play the game. So, he causes a lot of different things, and you pair him with a guy like Joel, and it’s a lot to game plan for.”

Harden was off to a slower start than usual on Monday. In his first ten minutes of action, the star guard drained just two shots for five points. He picked up his production in the second quarter and added eight points to his total before the half.

It seemed Harden’s hot start to the year was cooling down after he had a below-average scoring performance against the San Antonio Spurs over the weekend, but a big fourth-quarter performance against the Pacers allowed Harden to produce a team-high of 29 points in the victory over the Pacers.

“I felt like we did an ok job,” Haliburton said regarding Indiana’s defense. “He just made some shots… that’s what he does.”

With another solid performance over the Pacers, Harden is currently averaging 26 points per game in four outings. His field goal percentage has increased to 48 percent after he shot 40 percent with the Sixers last year. While he’s still got a long way to go this year, Harden is back to giving defenses a tough time as he’s been more effective in the scoring department on the 76ers this season.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.