The Philadelphia 76ers are at home on Friday night to take on the visiting New Orleans Pelicans as they try to get out from under a two-game losing streak. At this moment, the Sixers sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and are looking to hold their ground until Joel Embiid’s eventual return. The Pelicans, currently in fifth place in the Western Conference, have won their last two games and are 7-3 over their last ten games.
Once again, Philadelphia will face an uphill battle as they’ll be missing three of their starters.
Sixers vs. Pelicans betting info
Spread: Philadelphia 76ers +7.5 | New Orleans Pelicans -7.5
Moneyline: Philadelphia 76ers +245| New Orleans Pelicans -305
Total: Over/Under 222
Sixers game information
Who: New Orleans Pelicans (37-25) at Philadelphia 76ers (35-27)
When: 7:00 pm EST
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia PA
Watch: NBA League Pass, NBC Sports Philadelphia
Latest on the Sixers
The Sixers are in a tough spot as the season winds down as their next fourteen games area against 12 playoff teams from both conferences, including games against the Bucks, Knicks, Cavaliers, and Heat, from the Eastern Conference. To sat the schedule is not going to be kind to them would be an understatement, especially to a team that’s dealing with injuries to it’s two biggest stars and three of it’s starters.
Guard Tyrese Maxey will again miss tonight’s game after suffering a concussion earlier in the week. Without Maxey, in addition to having been without Embiid for a month, the team is not equipped to compete with the upper echelon of the league.
Maxey has been having his best season as a pro and established himself as a true second star on the Sixers. Since his All-Star break, he’s been averaging 28.7 points per game and has had an average of 26 points per game for the year, which is tied with Nikola Jokic for 13th in the league. With Maxey out again, the Sixers will be relying on the rest of the team to step up in his place.
Guard Kyle Lowry, who missed the loss to the Grizzlies on Wednesday night, has been giving the team almost 30 minutes per game of late while contributing just over 12 points per game over his last three games. Lowry has found a renewed energy with the Sixers and is shooting 43.5% on his three-point attempts while adding 3.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists in his time with the team.
In addition to Lowry, the Sixers are going to need big nights from Tobias Harris, Buddy Hield, and Kelly Oubre Jr., who’s been averaging 25.3 points over the last three games. Tobias Harris had two good games a week ago and has fallen back on some hard times.
Against the Grizzlies, when the team needed him the most, Harris shot 3-12 from the field, 1-4 on his three-point attempts, and only had 8 points for the game. Harris needs to find some rhythm and attack if the team is going to have a chance against the Pelicans.
Latest on the Pelicans
The Pelicans last played on Tuesday, and they blew out the Raptors, 139-98, in a game that saw seven players score in double figures, and 13 of the 14 who played all scored. The only player to have more than 25 minutes in the blowout win was guard Trey Murphy III, who scored a game-high 34 points. Murphy was 11-17 from the field, including 10-14 on his three-point attempts. Any sort of game close to that, and the Sixers won’t have a chance.
Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, and Herb Jones are all going to give the Sixers fits with movement and athleticism. Williamson has battled some foot issues over the past month but is already on pace to set his career high in games played. He’ll be a handful for whomever the Sixers task with defending him.
The Pelicans can attack in any number of ways, and with the Sixers missing four of their better defenders, they’ll be looking to attack quickly, often with an undermanned and undersized Sixers team. Any combination of their starters could all be over 20 points by the end of the game tonight.
What to watch for tonight
Kelly Oubre Jr. has been on fire of late and will look to keep that going as the team needs him with Maxey and Embiid out in addition to Harris falling back into a shooting slump. It’s not a role that he will shy away from, as he averaged 20.3 points per game last season in Charlotte. Paul Reed enjoyed a bounce-back game with 17 points and 11 rebounds, which the Sixers will need from him tonight.
This game isn’t shaping up to be a pretty one for the team or its fans. The Pelicans are 7-3 over their last ten games and are in 5th place in a tough Western Conference. Williamson, McCollum, and Ingram will provide plenty of highlights, but after seeing what the team did to the Raptors on Tuesday, they may not need to be on the court for that many minutes.
The Sixers will need some big games in front of the home crowd from Lowry, Hield, Oubre Jr., and especially Harris if they’re going to hang with the Pelicans. It doesn’t seem like that’s going to be in the cards, as the team has shown that without Embiid, they’re winning at the rate of some of the lower-ranked teams in the league.
Despite Maxey’s heart, hustle, and talent, having him off the floor put the team in a huge hole that they won’t be able to get out of. If the game gets out of control, head coach Nick Nurse may want to give players like Harris some much-needed time on the bench as they hope to reset him.
Bigger roles and minutes for players like Ricky Council IV, KJ Martin, and newly signed Jeff Dowtin should be in the plan, as the team will need everyone healthy and ready to face this next stretch of tough games.
Prediction
Sixers 103 – Pelicans 127
