PHILADELPHIA — Willie Green was in awe watching the New Orleans Pelicans make stops, rebound, play with force and hit 3s in bunches. It’s the kind of play in the first 24 minutes of Friday night that has been a staple of recent battles against undermanned and overworked teams in the East – like the Philadelphia 76ers.
“The first half was just a great display of basketball,” said Green, the Pelicans’ third-year coach.
Now, about that second half.
Left with seemingly little chance of victory down 35 points and the Philadelphia crowd booing, the Sixers instead turned around their miserable play and attempted to rally in the fourth quarter. Bucket after bucket made it an exciting – but familiar – ending in Philadelphia.
Zion Williamson had 23 points and 12 rebounds and Naji Marshall scored 19 points to lead the Pelicans to a 103-95 victory over a spiraling 76ers team without injured All-Stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
“A win is a win and we found a way at the end of the game to come out of it,” Pelicans guard Brandon Ingram said. “It’s all that matters.”
The Pelicans held on after a 35-point lead was cut to five on a 3-pointer by Jeff Dowtin Jr. with 45 seconds left. The 76ers scored 34 points in a tense fourth quarter, but simply ran out of time to mount a comeback.
Tobias Harris had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Sixers, and Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 20.
The Sixers, who entered the game seventh in the Eastern Conference standings, lost for the 15th time in 21 games.
They are 6-11 since Embiid went down Jan. 30, when Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga fell on the 7-footer’s left leg. There is still no timetable for Embiid’s return from knee surgery.
The 76ers lost their third straight game without Maxey, who is recovering from a concussion. Maxey lost his balance during practice Sunday in the third quarter of a game in Dallas and hit his head on another player’s knee. He left the game, but was able to come back and finish.
Coach Nick Nurse said Maxey is “doing very well” following the steps in the NBA’s concussion protocol and hopes to return for Sunday’s game against the Knicks.
Do you think the 76ers are missing the stars of the franchise? The Sixers only scored 15 points in the first quarter and went nearly three minutes in the second quarter before scoring a point. The 76ers missed 18 of 20 3s in the first half.
“We’re missing Joel, we’ve been missing Tyrese the last two games,” 76ers guard Kyle Lowry said. “I think we have time to figure it out. We need to be healthy and get to a position where we can compete.
In addition to their biggest names missing, the Sixers have been riddled with injuries – Nic Batum (left foot soreness) was added to a list of absent players that also included Robert Covington (knee) and De’Anthony Melton (back) .
“I’m in super-evaluation mode,” Nurse said. “I want to see who can execute what we need to execute when we get our people back.”
The Pelicans made five 3s and made 14 of 20 shots overall in the first quarter to take a 23-point lead and stay fifth in the West.
“We did a great job getting the lead. …” Green said. “Don’t reveal everything by being too relaxed. I felt we were a little relaxed and (Philly) turned it up.”
The Pelicans led 50-20 and had another rout in sight before letting the Sixers come tantalizingly close in the final moments. They tied a franchise record with a 48-point first quarter last Friday in a 27-point win over the Pacers. New Orleans won by 41 points and handed the short-handed Raptors the worst home loss in franchise history on Tuesday.
FOLLOWING
Pelicans: Play Sunday at Atlanta.
76ers: Play Sunday in New York.
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