Roughly eight miles from the famous Rocky statue in the City of Brotherly Love, the Pelicans nearly produced a Friday upset worthy of Sylvester Stallone’s underdog character from the popular old movie.
Despite not having its entire starting frontcourt of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Steven Adams due to injury, New Orleans rode the likes of Jaxson Hayes, Kira Lewis Jr. and Wenyen Gabriel into position to knock off Philadelphia, the NBA’s best home team. The 76ers used two Pelicans turnovers on the visitors’ final two possessions to hold on and increase their lead atop the Eastern Conference standings.