South Philly Summary: 76ers Win an Ugly One vs. Pelicans

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- Thursday night's victory over the Boston Celtics gave the Philadelphia 76ers some more juice in the Eastern Conference. On Friday night, they had the opportunity to close out their back to back set of games and take sole possession of second place with a win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Once again, the Sixers entered Friday night's matchup short-handed. As they have for a majority of the season so far, the 76ers didn't enter the game with all hands on deck in their starting lineup as Al Horford missed his second consecutive game.

Although the Sixers' veteran was warming up during the pregame shootaround, Horford knew there was no shot he was going to make it to tip-off tonight. Therefore, the Sixers ruled him out earlier in the afternoon. In place of Horford, the Sixers decided to roll with Mike Scott, who picked up his second consecutive start of the year.

An Old Friend Returns...

For the last two seasons, NBA sharpshooting veteran JJ Redick has rocked the 76ers' threads, exciting the Wells Fargo Center on a nightly basis with his ridiculously smooth jump shot. This year though, he's a member of the New Orleans Pelicans. And on Friday, Redick returned to South Philly for the first time since last spring.

As expected, Philadelphia was excited to see the former starting guard. Redick came out early for his shootaround and even shared a few conversations with some Philly fans. Eventually, Sixers' head coach Brett Brown made an unusual appearance on the floor during the warmups so he could talk to his former player, who he genuinely respects.

Redick also had some fun a couple of hours before tip-off, pestering Sixers' center Joel Embiid by tossing basketballs in his direction while the big man was warming up. They both shared some laughs as Embiid realized the former Sixer was purposely messing with him. Soon though, both players would cut the laughing out and put on their game faces.

A Tip of the Hat to Redick...

As expected, Philly fans applauded JJ Redick on Friday night when he was first introduced after the National Anthem. Not too long after his actual arrival into the game, the Sixers did Redick a solid and put together a tribute video for the veteran to display on the jumbotron. Once again, Sixers fans applauded the production, showing their support for the Pelicans' guard.

Redick ended up finishing the game by draining six of his 15 field goal attempts, totaling for 19 points in 34 minutes on the floor. As expected, he had a nice night from long range against the Sixers as he knocked down three of his five attempted threes. After the Sixers handed Redick his defeat, some of his old teammates shared a moment with him on the court before both teams departed into their locker rooms.

Norvel Pelle Brings the Energy...

In an unexpected series of events, the Sixers decided to play around with their rotations since Al Horford would not be in the mix. Typically, Sixers' veteran big man Kyle O'Quinn would garner the backup minutes at center. But on Friday, Brett Brown wanted to toy around a bit.

So two-way G-League affiliate, Norvel Pelle picked up a little over eleven minutes against the Pelicans, and he took full advantage of his opportunity to shine. In a game that felt somewhat flat from the beginning, Pelle managed to get the crowd into it as he denied two shots with authority. In total, Pelle accounted for three blocks and earned the right to be called the "new Nerlens Noel" on Brett Brown's team following the win.

The Sixers Slow Down...

Aside from Pelle's block party, the first half wasn't pretty for the Sixers. Many fans in attendance were hopeful for an exciting second half, but the 76ers did not deliver. There were a few plays that wowed the crowd, but for the most part, Philly sure looked like they used a lot of energy on their opponents from less than 24 hours ago.

The good news about Friday night was that the Sixers won. And they got a lot of help from the usual suspects such as Tobias Harris, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid. The bad news is that the Sixers allowed a bad Pelicans team to stick around throughout the night.

How Satisfied is Brett Brown?

Could Brett Brown look at Friday night's 116-109 victory over a struggling Pelicans team and be satisfied? "No," were his exact words.

"To think last night equals tonight, that doesn't weigh up. Now, there are some good things that happened in that game -- and there were some poor things that happened in that game. My mind is completely on what we gotta do to not be in that situation."

The situation that Brown is referring to happens to be the lousy play down the stretch. He mentioned bad free-throw shooting (they drained only 67-percent.) And he also referenced the late fouls as "poor," and said they occurred "too much."

Although Friday night's win over New Orleans puts the Sixers in second place, remaining as the only undefeated team while playing at home, his mood was not jolly. At this point in the season, Coach Brown is expecting the small issues to be cleaned up. On Friday, it was clear that the Sixers still have glaring issues late in the game.