PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers had a tough time in Friday’s 103-95 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. They trailed by as many as 35, and while they absolutely deserve credit for working their way back into the game, they shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.
Kyle Lowry, who is the team’s veteran leader after being acquired in the buyout market, had six points and seven assists on Friday. He didn’t shoot the ball great, 1-for-5, on the night, but he was a key reason Philadelphia was able to get back in the game after halftime.
The Sixers must bottle what happened in the second half and take it with them going forward.
“I think we just gotta go and work tomorrow (Saturday),” said Lowry after the loss. “Get a good practice in, understand the situations that we’ve been in the last couple of games, continue to get better. watch the film, learn from the mistakes that we made, and keep our heads up. I think at the end of the day, we got to continue to stay high-spirited and go out there and compete a little bit harder.”
Another player who has to get going for the Sixers on the offensive end is Buddy Hield. The sharpshooter has had a tough go at it of late, and he shot 2-for-9 from deep in the loss to the Pelicans.
Hield is a terrific shooter. One of the best the league has to offer. Lowry and the Sixers just want him to keep shooting. They’re going to eventually drop again. That’s how basketball goes sometimes.
“He’s a great shooter,” Lowry said of Hield. “I mean, one thing about the NBA, it’s a make-or-miss league. There are nights where you’re gonna be on fire, there’s nights you’re gonna miss shots, but at the end of the day, he’s a great shooter and we want him to continue to shoot the ball. We don’t worry about him making or missing. We just care about him competing on both ends of the floor.”
The Sixers have a tough schedule coming up with two games against the New York Knicks and then the Milwaukee Bucks. If Philadelphia plays like it did in the second half on Friday, it will have a better chance of getting the job done on this upcoming three-game road trip.
“I mean, we got a tough couple of games coming up,” Lowry finished. “But we got to learn from this one, and continue to learn, learn, learn, and get better and take it into the next game.”
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