The Philadelphia 76ers lost their third straight game on Friday night, falling to the Pelicans 121-105. Their record drops to 6-11.
- The Pelicans had too much offensive firepower for the Sixers to handle. New Orleans had three different players score 20 points or more.
- Former Sixers Jrue Holiday had an excellent night against his old team, scoring 20 points with 13 assists, seven rebounds, and three steals.
- Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon were the other 20-point scorers for the Pelicans, while Ryan Anderson and Tyreke Evans combined for 34 points off of the bench.
- Evan Turner led the Sixer starters with 22 points. He also posted six rebounds and four assists.
- Thaddeus Young posted a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
- Michael Carter-Williams had one of his wild shooting nights, connecting on just four of his 13 shots. He did manage to hand out 10 assists.
- Tony Wroten returned to active duty tonight, and led the Sixers with 24 points. Wroten played 23 minutes off of the bench, and shot 9-13. He’s been a nice find by Sam Hinkie.
- The Sixers struggled at the free-throw line, hitting just nine of 21 attempts and also committed 19 turnovers.
Final Thoughts
The Sixers are now 3-11 after starting the season 3-0.
One thing I really like about Michael Carter-Williams is that he’s found a way to make some kind of meaningful contribution even on nights when his shot is off. If MCW’s shot isn’t falling, he’s been able to help the team with assists, rebounds, and steals. He’s got the potential to be one of the league’s most complete players if he can develop consistency with his shot in the future. We haven’t even seen rookie play 20 games yet, and he’s already shown us a lot.
What about Carter-Williams’ predecessor, Jrue Holiday?
Holiday’s future will be interesting to watch as he continues his own growth with a young, talented Pelicans squad.
There’s a lot of intriguing talent on that roster for Holiday to work with. Jrue is already a strong offensive point guard, and once he really begins to jell with his new teammates, I think that group could be a fun one to watch in the Western Conference. Anthony Davis is coming into his own as a double-double machine, and is establishing himself as one of the league’s top shot blockers. Eric Gordon’s durability is always going to be a concern, but when he’s on the court he’s capable of dropping more than 20 points a game like he did tonight. Ryan Anderson and Tyreke Evans are good enough to be starters in this league, and give New Orleans some nice punch off of their bench.
Jrue could be the glue that eventually keeps that team together. It’s a shame his time in Philadelphia had to be cut short, but it was done in the best interests of the future.
The Sixers are moving in the right direction the more they lose the better chance they have at a good draft pick. For the most part I love how this young team has competed you can see that when Brown has the players he needs this team will be smoking.
Jrue Holliday is taking that trade personally – he stuck it to MCW twice now in head to head matchups. Why did Memphis just give Tony Wroten away? Tony Wroten is a top 60 guard in the NBA at age 20. New Orleans also made a mistake by selecting Austin Rivers instead of Tony Wroten. Even Toronto made a huge mistake taking his college teammate, Terrance Ross instead of Wroten in the top ten.
Congrats to Villanova for winning the Bahamas tournament defeating #2Kansas and #23Iowa as an unranked team. Coming back from double digits in the championship game against Iowa to win in OT.
Andrew Wiggins has no ambition and no off the ball skills. Slow guards 4 inches smaller than him can face guard him and he stops moving and gives up, content to watch with his arms glued to his side. If he just extends his arms out he is 3 feet open, not him though. –