Sixers defense falters in fourth quarter as they fall, 123-115, against New Orleans Pelicans

Think back to the 76ers’ contest against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.

The product inside the Wells Fargo Center was below the NBA standard as several key players were sidelined with injuries on both squads.

Well, things weren’t much different for the Sixers in their 123-115 loss to the lowly New Orleans Pelicans Friday night at the same arena.

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The loss dropped them 15-21 on the season, while the Pelicans improved to 8-31.

“Obviously, this hurts,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said of losing to the Western Conference’s last-place team. “I’m very upset about this one. It shouldn’t happen, but it did. So you know we learn, we move forward, and we just make sure these type of things don’t happen again.”

The Sixers only had nine standard-contract players available, while the Pelicans were without standouts Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III because of injuries. New Orleans was also without star forward Zion Williamson, who was serving a one-day suspension after being late for the team flight.

Each team was counting on its major offseason acquisition to make up the difference. Point guard Dejounte Murray was cleared to play after being listed as questionable with right elbow tendonitis and a right shin contusion. The Sixers expected to get a lift from Paul George’s return after he missed Wednesday’s game with left groin tightness.

Both players overcame poor shooting and foul trouble in the first half. George was limited to 12 minutes, 49 seconds in the first half after picking up three fouls. In that span, he had two points on 1-for-6 shooting to go with seven rebounds and one assist.

George recovered to finish with 25 points on 10-for-22 shooting — including 5 of 12 three-pointers — along with a season-high 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals. Thirteen of George’s points came in the fourth quarter. That’s when the Sixers showed a bit of life thanks to his all-round play, cutting a 16-point lead to seven with 3:52 remaining.

“Paul, when he’s aggressive, I think he’s really good,” Tyrese Maxey said. “I think he did a really good job of finding his shot, seeking out matchups, and just keep shooting. I think he struggled early. We know who he is. We know who can be, and I think that was good for him to stay aggressive tonight.

But the momentum from the 9-0 run slowed when Jordan Hawkins made a foul shot to push the Pelicans lead up to eight after Sixers coach Nick Nurse was called for a technical foul. Then CJ McCollum drained a three-pointer to push New Orleans’ lead up to 11 with 3:23 left.

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The closest the Sixers got the rest of the way was seven points.

The Pelicans did whatever they wanted to Philly’s defense. They made 59.1% of their shots — including 6 of 9 three-pointers — in the fourth quarter.

“I think a few times we mixed up our coverage and we have to know what the coverage is,” Maxey said of the defensive shortcomings. “Talking loud, or if we’re switching one through five, or we’re in drop, and everybody has to know that, everybody has to be on the same page. A couple times in the zone we messed up on rotations.”

McCollum took full advantage of that all game, finishing with a game-high 38 points while making six three-pointers. Twenty-three of his points came in the first half.

“He got loose and I thought some miscommunication a little bit on our behalf and then they played a little fast,” George said. “It seems to be kind of the case. Teams want to find rhythm, and they want to play a little faster against us because half-court defense we’re pretty solid. I think that was just the key. He got a couple of them to just go down early and long game from there.”

Maxey paced the Sixers with 30 points and 12 assists.

But the efforts of Maxey and George couldn’t make up for the absences of Joel Embiid (sprained left foot), Kyle Lowry (right hip soreness) and Andre Drummond (left toe sprain), who all missed their third consecutive game. This was the ninth game that KJ Martin (left foot stress reaction) was sidelined. And Jared McCain (left knee meniscus surgery) is out for the remainder of the season.

Embiid sprained his left foot during pregame warmups before finishing with 27 points and nine rebounds against the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day at TD Garden. The seven-time All-Star then averaged 31.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while playing four of the next five games. The one game he missed during the stretch was on the first night of a back-to-back.

But despite looking fine during that stretch, Embiid hasn’t played since finishing with 28 points and 12 rebounds in just three quarters of action against the Brooklyn Nets on Jan. 4.

“It’s been aggravated for sure,” Nurse said. “That’s why he’s not playing. Again, he’s day to day. Like I said, he practiced yesterday. I think it’s, again, like, hoping that maybe he’d be able to go today, but not just quite ready. I hope he’d be ready to go for the next one.”

But what about his left knee?

Embiid missed several games this season with left knee management and swelling. Is knee management also to blame for his recent absence?

“Listen, the knee is pretty good, I think,” Nurse said. “So the foot’s what’s bothering him now. I think the knee is pretty good.”

The Sixers travel to Orlando to face the Magic Sunday at the Kia Center. This will be the fourth and final series meeting of the season for these teams. Orlando holds a 2-1 advantage. The Eastern Conference’s fifth-place Magic dropped to 22-18 after Friday night’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.