The Philadelphia 76ers survived a late New Orleans surge to take victory on the road without Joel Embiid.
The Philadelphia 76ers entered New Orleans with a 14-14 record on the road and looked to get a win pushing them above .500 on the road for the first time this season.
Philadelphia began the game slow with only six points in nearly the first five minutes of action before erupting for 25 over the final seven minutes. Philadelphia closed out the first quarter with a 31-24 lead.
Ben Simmons came out in the second quarter pushing the ball every chance. A highlight behind-the-back lay-in and another clear lane led to four Simmons’ points. The rest of the Philadelphia unit contributed as well as they entered halftime leading 65-52.
New Orleans came out in the second half and continued the barrage of paint scoring they had begun in the second quarter. Without Embiid, Philadelphia gave up 59 points between the two middle quarters with only four field goals coming from outside the paint. Despite the lack of interior defense, Philadelphia entered the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, 93-83.
The fourth quarter appeared as though Philadelphia would take an easy win on the road as they led 110-100 with less than three minutes remaining. However, New Orleans worked their way back as Philadelphia couldn’t score a field goal and managed only 1-4 from the free throw line in that time.
While Philadelphia did manage to hold on for the road win 111-110, a perhaps significant loss was seeing Boban Marjanovic collapse to the floor as his legs were rolled up on late in the fourth. Marjanovic was clearly in pain and needed to be helped off the floor.
Philadelphia will be on the road again for their next game as they look to seek revenge on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.