New Orleans Pelicans escape 76ers 103-95 – Philly loses 3rd straight

The New Orleans Pelicans avoid a disastrous collapse and defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 103-95 as Philadelphia declines to 35-28 on the season.

Philadelphia remains in 7th place in the Eastern Conference with Miami 0.5 games ahead of them and Indiana 0.5 below.

Philadelphia at one point found themselves horrifically down 35 points at the 5:13 mark of the 2nd quarter and in a game that seemed all but lost, the 76ers chipped away until the very end as New Orleans’ once massive lead was decreased to as little as six points in crunch time with key second-half contributions from Tobias Harris, Kelly Oubre Jr., Paul Reed, and Cameron Payne.

The 1st Half, a Callback to The Philadelphia 76ers Process Days

Without the services of Joel Embiid (knee), Tyrese Maxey (concussion), De’Anthony Melton (back), Nicolas Batum (foot), and Robert Covington (knee), the 76ers’ offense was bound to struggle, but a 34-point first-half was a disgraceful surprise.

Outside of Kelly Oubre’s ability to get to the rim off the dribble and attacking off-pindown screens where he drew contact and found back-cutters in Paul Reed and Mo Bamba, the 76ers plainly couldn’t shoot the ball. Buddy Hield was ice-cold, despite having an array of open perimeter looks and staggered screens set for him. 

Tobias Harris was settling for deep, contested shots beyond and within the arc in early offense, effectively killing possessions. Ultimately, Philadelphia lacked ball movement and settled for horrid isolation possessions that led to long rebounds and early offense opportunities for New Orleans. 

Defensively, the 76ers couldn’t contain the likes of Zion Williamson (23 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists on 7-14 field shooting) and Brandon Ingram (17 points and 5 assists on 6-10 shooting from the field) off the dribble as Williamson powered through Harris and Ingram torched Oubre Jr. for easy buckets at the rim. 

Williamson and Ingram countered the 76ers’ help-side rotations and zone defense utilizing their rim gravity to create threes for weak-side shooters, enabling Naji Marshall to be on a heater where he shot 4-4 from beyond the arc. 

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The 2nd Half, the Philadelphia 76ers “Didn’t Hear No Bell”

Philadelphia had every reason to quit on this game down 30 to a scorching Pelicans team while without their star duo in Embiid and Maxey, but the 76ers fought chipped away possession after possession. Philadelphia ended up out-scoring New Orleans 61-40 in the 2nd half.

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The 76ers seemed to have no answer for the Pelicans’ collective rim pressure, but Nick Nurse had a series of counters up his sleeve including traps on ball-handlers like Brandon Ingram and a matchup zone anchored by a mixture of Bamba, Reed, and Martin Jr. that put somewhat of a stop to New Orleans’ paint dominance all the while New Orleans cooled down from three.

Defensive schemes aside, the 76ers simply executed elite defensive rotations whether it was hard close-outs or weak-side help on cutters, especially Paul Reed, who provided sound help-side defense at the rim against Zion Williamson.

On the other end of the floor, Tobias Harris scored 15 of his 21 points in the 2nd half with a series of aggressive drives off the catch and timely pull-up jumpers off the point-of-attack.

Kelly Oubre Jr. remained relentless in attacking the paint off the dribble but ended up with 20 points shooting an efficient 7-18 from the field. 

Paul Reed (17 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks) gave Philadelphia intensity off the glass on both ends, scored off back-door cuts, and hit a pair of threes, one off a pick-and-pop.

Cameron Payne (13 points and 4 assists) gave Philadelphia a scoring and play-making spark in crunch time where he effortlessly got downhill scoring in the paint and swinging it to weak-side shooters and cutters. 

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In the end, the 76ers fell short of what would’ve been one of the best comebacks of this NBA season due to a clutch drive to the rim by Zion Williamson, Philadelphia’s undisciplined shooting fouls against dribble drivers, and a crucial missed layup from Cameron Payne.

The 76ers’ nearly improbable comeback was simply a result of shooting numbers evening out, hard-nosed effort on both ends of the floor, and New Orleans getting complacent with their enormous lead. Philadelphia’s effort to get back into this game that seemed ridiculously out of reach is a true indication of a well-coached and tightly-knit team. 

Philadelphia looks to get back in the win column on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. EST against Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

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