Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse believes the team's loss to the New Orleans Pelicans was the toughest moment of the season.
The Philadelphia 76ers were undoubtedly hoping to get back on track Saturday evening against the New Orleans Pelicans but instead walked away with a 15-point loss.
This marks Philadelphia's fourth consecutive defeat, as the team continues to struggle without Joel Embiid in the lineup. The hope remains he'll be able to return to action for Sunday's matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Even without Embiid, the game against the Pelicans should have been a breeze for the 76ers, as New Orleans is the No. 14 seed in the Western Conference. Because of this, 76ers coach Nick Nurse called this loss the "toughest moment of the season" postgame.
"Certainly the toughest moment of the season for sure, all year without question," Nurse said, per Jeff Skeversky. "We've got to get back to being able to play the 48. I thought we did a lot of good things at the start. We were ready, we were executing the game plan good... We blew a few defensive scheme assignments here and there, but for the most part we were pretty locked in."
Tyrese Maxey finished as the 76ers' leading scorer with 27 points but was inefficient, shooting 39.1% and 2 of 11 from three-point range. Supporting Maxey was Kelly Oubre Jr., who tallied 25 points and five rebounds on 46.7% shooting in 33 minutes of action.
Nurse continued, "With the three-ball, these games can switch so fast. You just gotta be able to play through that a little bit, and we didn't do it very well tonight."
Philadelphia shot just 12 of 46 from the arc while the Pelicans knocked down an impressive 50% (17 of 34) of their attempts from the outside. New Orleans' leading scorers in the matchup were Jordan Poole (23), Zion Williamson (21), and Saddiq Bey (20).
Finding a rhythm Sunday against the Timberwolves is a tall task, especially if Embiid isn't able to suit up once again.
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