NEW ORLEANS _ The 76ers are falling apart. There's no other way to describe the string of bad health affecting a team that, a couple of weeks ago, was the talk of the NBA.
Joel Embiid, the Sixers' franchise player, was a late scratch from Sunday night's 131-124 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans with back tightness. And T.J. McConnell sat on the bench in street clothes at Smoothie King Center with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. Robert Covington (lower-back contusion) was also sidelined.
Meanwhile, first overall pick Markelle Fultz (shoulder soreness) was in Lexington, Ky., for rehabilitation at the Shoulder Center at Kentucky. Justin Anderson (shin splints in left leg) also wasn't with the team on the three-game road trip.
The Sixers (13-13) managed to keep things competitive against the Pelicans. They even had a 95-87 lead after three quarters. However, it was only a matter of time before the Pelicans (14-13) got separation and handed the Sixers their fourth consecutive loss.
New Orleans built a 122-114 lead after Anthony Davis' jumper with 3 minutes, 13 seconds remaining.
Former Sixer Jrue Holiday finished with a season-high 34 points and made 5 of 8 three-pointers. And the all-star frontcourt tandem of Davis and DeMarcus Cousins also shined. Davis had 29 points, eight rebounds and a game-high five blocks from his power forward spot. Cousins, a center, added 23 points and nine rebounds. He made 7 of 10 shots.
The 131 points were the most New Orleans scored all season. The Pelicans' 15 3-pointers were one off their season high.
JJ Redick paced the Sixers with 28 points. Ben Simmons finished with 27 points, 10 assists and five rebounds for his 15th double-double of the season. Dario Saric also had a double-double, with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
But not having Embiid was a major blow for the visitors.
He missed the 105-98 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers the previous night because he has yet to be cleared to play on consecutive nights. While they won't say it publicly, he skipped that game because the Sixers thought Embiid would match up better against the Pelicans' Twin Towers tandem of Cousins and Davis. The Cavaliers play with a small lineup that draws opposing centers away from the basket.
"You go straight to the opponent of big ball, big ball," Sixers coach Brett Brown said during his pregame press conference. "You go straight to Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. It's apples for apples now that we have Joel. It might be a little bit different when you don't have Joel.
"We certainly need every bit of Joel tonight to legitimately find a way to win."
The coach was unaware that, 75 minutes later, he would start Amir Johnson at center for the second straight night.
Being sidelined because of ailments is nothing new for Embiid, an all-star-caliber player. A stress fracture in Embiid's lower back kept him out of the 2014 Big 12 and NCAA tournaments during his lone season at Kansas. Embiid initially hurt his back Feb. 8, 2014 against West Virginia. Then, after returning to action, he aggravated the injury March 1 of that year at Oklahoma State.
The third overall pick of the 2014 draft missed his first two seasons with the Sixers after having two surgeries on his right foot. Then Embiid played only 31 games last season because of the consecutive-games restriction and various injuries. The major injury was a torn meniscus in his left knee, which required surgery in March.
So far, he has missed five games this season. Three games were because of back-to-back situations. Embiid missed another one because of what the Sixers called "load management." And Sunday was because of his back.
But the fact that Furkan Korkmaz (career-high five points) played a career-high 19 minutes, 48 seconds is evidence of the Sixers' depleted roster. Korkmaz had been inactive for most of the season and was assigned to the Delaware 87ers to get playing time. However, on Sunday, the Sixers were running first-quarter plays for the rookie.
