The Philadelphia 76ers did themselves no favors on Wednesday as they started their matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans as poorly as one could imagine.
Joel Embiid was ruled out about half an hour before tipoff, and the Sixers were unable to recover in a 124-114 loss to the Pelicans. Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 33 points, but it wasn’t enough to escape the early hole.
The Pelicans shot a ridiculous 77.8% from the floor in the first quarter and opened an 18-point lead in the opening frame. That is not the recipe for success in the NBA even with Embiid being a late scratch.
“We cannot use that as an excuse, and we won’t use it as an excuse,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters after the win. “What put us in a big hole is we didn’t go out and execute our defensive schemes the way we wanted to from the start of the game.”
The Sixers trailed by as many as 24 in the first half and their deficit ballooned to 29 in the third quarter. They looked a step slow on the defensive end, and they struggled on the glass with Embiid out.
As Nurse stated, however, it can’t be used as an excuse. Teams are going to be short-handed. It happens in the NBA. The Sixers needed to play with a better effort to start the game than they did on Wednesday.
“One hundred percent,” Maxey told reporters of agreeing with Nurse. “Beginning of the first quarter, he said, ‘we didn’t follow what the defensive game plans were, and, because of that, we dug ourselves a hole.’ But then, once we started following game plans in the second quarter, we were pretty good.”
Once Philadelphia buckled down and produced a few stops, it was able to get back into the game. Led by Maxey’s offensive outburst and a better defensive effort, Philadelphia cut the lead to 118-110 with 1:47 left, but drew no closer.
“I don’t know if we won (from) there on out, but we lost the second quarter by five, it was probably close in the third, and we for sure won the fourth,” Maxey added. “You have to stick to the game plan, go out there, and be aggressive from the tip.”
The Sixers will move on to face the Boston Celtics on Friday on the road.
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