By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
(world-renowned superstar Carl Landry carried the Sixers to victory Tuesday)
Philadelphia 107, New Orleans 93 – Box Score
How does a Sixers team that had one just of their previous 26 games entering play Tuesday night finally grab that elusive 10th victory of the season? How about by playing a New Orleans team dealing with even more injuries than them and with even less to play for as this season winds to a conclusion.
As Sam Hinkie discussed earlier in the day on Zach Lowe’s podcast, the Sixers are all-in on winning each and every game they can now that they’re locked into the worst overall record. Tuesday night represented their best chance of grabbing a win. They actually came into the game favored by a couple points against a Pelicans team that has suffered so many serious injuries, people on twitter had taken to putting red X’s through members of the New Orleans roster like a serial killer’s knock-off list.
As a result, Philadelphia pushed all its chips into the center of the table. Nerlens Noel was back in action after sitting out the last couple weeks; he was able to play 17 minutes, which benefited the team most by allowing Carl Landry to move back to his natural power forward position for the majority of his time on the floor.
Carl Landry certainly felt right at home at power forward, going off for 22 points on 9-10 shooting and 9 rebounds. He even knocked down both of his three-point attempts. The Sixers found their stretch four!
.@CarlLandry with 21 points so far tonight (including 2 👌🏾's) pic.twitter.com/s2pbNbzvUg
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 6, 2016
In the final minutes of the game, the crowd was chanting “MVP” for Landry. If you would have bet on that happening at some point at the beginning of the season, you might have received better odds than the Syracuse women did against UConn in their title game Tuesday night.
The Sixers also got great play from their guards, forcing New Orleans into 17 turnovers, while committing just 10 themselves. The team assisted on 31 of its 40 made field goals. TJ McConnell had 8 assists in just 18 minutes, ramping up his profile for the seemingly destined fight for his roster spot with city hero Ryan Arcidiacono in the upcoming summer league. Ish Smith and Nik Stauskas each dropped 6 dimes, while Isaiah Canaan hit 4 of 7 threes to contribute 16 points.
Former Villanova Wildcat Dante Cunningham was on a high from his alma mater winning the National Championship; he led the Pelicans in scoring with 19 points on 7-9 shooting. But with the crowd spurred on by the arena replaying Kris Jenkins’ game-winning shot, Tuesday just felt like a night for Philadelphia basketball to come out on top.
Finally, the Sixers players and coaches can stop dealing with questions about being the worst team ever. Maybe now they can go out there and grab a couple more wins just for the fun of it. The 4th-to-last game of the season comes Friday at home against the Knicks.
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