PHILADELPHIA _ The 76ers will tell you that their current roster, as it stands, is good enough to secure a postseason berth.
That's why they decided against making any moves at Thursday's trade deadline. If Friday night was any indication, standing pat might have been a great decision.
The Sixers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans, 100-82, in front of a sellout crowd of 20,489 at Wells Fargo Center. The 82 points were a season-low for the Pelicans (28-25), losers of three straight and five of six games.
The Sixers improved to 27-25 and gained a game over the Detroit Pistons for the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot with 30 games left.
"It's just up to us now," Ben Simmons said of the players. "We know what we need to do to get there. So it's all about locking in."
The rookie point guard, Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, and JJ Redick were definitely locked-in considering they all sat out the majority of the fourth-quarter.
Dominating Anthony Davis, Embiid showed why he was voted a starter in Feb. 18 NBA All-Star game in Los Angeles. Embiid finished with 24 points, 16 rebounds and one block for his 27th double-double of the season.
Davis, another All-Star starter, finished with 14 points on 6 of 19 shooting. He came into the matchup averaging 26.8 points.
Simmons had another performance worthy of receiving an All-Star berth. He finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. However, the leading rookie-of-the-year candidate was passed over three times as an All-Star game injury replacement. The final two replacements were Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic and Charlotte Hornets point guard Kemba Walker.
"I don't really know what an All-Star is anymore," Simmons said. "I mean if it was about win-lose, you picked Dragic obviously and you pick Kemba, whose team is seven wins under us. It is what it is, but my stats don't lie."
He will, however, participate in the NBA All-Star Weekend's Rising Stars Challenge along with Embiid and Saric.
On this night, Saric had 24 points on 8 for 11 shooting. Meanwhile, Redick added 15 points while making 3 of 6 3-pointers.
Embiid (eight) and Simmons (four) combined to score the Sixers' first 12 points. Saric got on the scoreboard with 8 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first quarter to make it a 14-2 game.
He, Embiid and Simmons went on score the Sixers first 28 points before Redick's layup gave the Sixers an 18-point cushion (30-12) with 1:37 left in the quarter.
The foursome combined to score all 32 of the Sixers' first-quarter points and 51 of their 56 points at the half.
With those four leading the way, the Sixers had a commanding 32-point lead (84-52) with 1 minute, 4 seconds left in third quarter. They extended their lead to 35 points early in the fourth quarter.
Delaware 87ers post player Emeka Okafor is on a 10-day contract with the Pelicans. He finished with four points, eight rebounds and two assists. Former Sixer point guard Jrue Holiday finished with nine points on 3 for 11 shooting.
Sixers legend Bobby Jones was the bell ringer before Friday's game.
The team unveiled a sculpture of him outside their practice facility in Camden earlier in the day.
The forward averaged 10.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks during his eight seasons in Philadelphia. He won the NBA's award for sixth man of the year in 1983. He helped the Sixers win the NBA title that season. The defensive standout also made two of his four All-Star appearances as a Sixer.
The organization retired his No. 24 jersey back in 1986.
