By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
New Orleans 121, Philadelphia 114 – Box Score
Coming off the long layoff during the extended All-Star break, the common refrain in NBA circles was sluggish play as teams returned to the court. With the Sixers heading down to New Orleans Friday night though, only one of the teams looked like they were still on vacation as play got underway. Unfortunately for Philadelphia fans, it wasn’t the home team.
The Sixers were all out of sorts early on, as 15 of their 20 turnovers came before halftime, allowing the Pelicans to jump out to a 16-point halftime lead. Former Sixer Jrue Holiday flashed his former All-Star potential, finishing with 24 points, 12 assists, and 4 steals. He often led New Orleans out in transition, many times feeding superstar Anthony Davis in the open court. The Brow had 18 points in the first quarter alone, on his way to a game-high 34 points.
At long last, the Sixers finally pulled things together in the second half. Uncharacteristically, they were the team beginning the third quarter on a big run. Philadelphia outscored the Pelicans 8-0 coming out of the locker room, eventually trimming the deficit to 2 points by the start of the fourth quarter.
Jahlil Okafor struggled with foul trouble all night (eventually fouling out), thanks in large part to the work of Anthony Davis. Davis went 16-20 from the foul line, and helped force three quick fouls on Okafor to force the rookie to sit out the majority of the first half. Okafor got going after halftime though, tallying 14 points in just 19 minutes of action. He and Nerlens Noel co-existed just fine against a Pelicans front line that consistently plays two bigs. Noel ended the game with a team-high 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Outside shooting also helped the Sixers climb back into the game. Philadelphia shot the ball well from three all night (12-27 as a team), led by Robert Covington, Nik Stauskas, and Isaiah Canaan, who combined to drain 10 of 20 triples. Stauskas even hit a buzzer-beater right before halftime for the second straight game with a high-arcing shot off an in-bounds with 0.9 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Ultimately though, the first-half lead proved too large to climb back from for Philadelphia. Ryan Anderson, who most people thought the Pelicans would move at the trade deadline given his pending free agent status and New Orleans’ place in the standings, showed how he could have helped a contender this season. Anderson hit 4-6 from three on the night, and scored 9 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to help salt the game away.
The loss was vintage Sixers, killing themselves with turnovers, but showing that fire Brett Brown praises so often to fight back and make a game of it. Philadelphia will return to the court Sunday evening against the Mavericks. We’ll see if they can play a full 48 minutes in Dallas.
Other Game Notes:
- Another area the Sixers struggled was the glass. The Pelicans collected 11 offensive rebounds against just 3 for the Sixers. Omer Asik had 7 of his 14 rebounds on the offensive end.
- After Milwaukee’s trade inquiries for him were rebuffed by the Sixers, Kendall Marshall received some burn and scored a season-high 9 points in 11 minutes. Marshall shot 3-3 from the field, including 2-2 from three.
- Speaking of trades, a report from the Boston Herald states the Sixers almost traded Jahlil Okafor to the Celtics for Brooklyn’s 2016 first-round pick. Allegedly, the Sixers were the team to back out after serious negotiations. I have to agree with the move, as it would be short-sighted to give up on Okafor so quickly unless you know that Brooklyn pick is top-2. Currently, the Nets have only the 4th-worst record in the league.
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