New Orleans Pelicans fall to the Philadelphia 76ers 96-81

After the Philadelphia 76ers held a 33-20 lead after one quarter of play, the New Orleans Pelicans fought back to cut the deficit to three at halftime.

However, the Pelicans failed to finish the comeback in the second half.

New Orleans fell on the road to the feisty Sixers 96-81, without Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday, who sat out due to injuries. Michael Carter-Williams was the leading scorer for the 76ers with 22 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

For the Pelicans, Alexis Ajinca had his best game of the season for New Orleans with 16 points, 14 rebounds and one block. The Pelicans struggled to hold onto the ball on offense, chalking up 18 turnovers on the game.

Other Observations

• The Sixers started out the game making 10 of their first 13 shots of the game and put up their best first quarter performance of the year with 33 points in the first period. The defense was really exposed without Anthony Davis early on. The Pelicans weren’t contesting jumpers and the Sixers were more than willing to take them.
• Nate Wolters finally saw the floor with 5:46 left in the fourth quarter. It was good to see Nate hit the floor for the first time since he was signed to a 10-day contract Wednesday.
• Both teams had a ton of issues cashing in on free throws tonight. While the Pelicans missed 10 free throws, the Sixers missed 10 of their own. The Pelicans could’ve been a lot closer with some makes, but at the same time this could’ve been even worse if the Sixers had made theirs.
• Monty Williams rotations once again come into question, as he only played eight players in the game. Until garbage time, Monty stuck with the same eight guys the entire game. Even when the game started to get out of hand, he didn’t make any major changes to the gameplan. This could be seen as a good or bad thing.
• The Pelicans will look to rebound Sunday against the Toronto Raptors. Tip is scheduled for 2:30 PM CST.

While this game was a very depressing loss, it’s very tough to win without the best two players on the team.