Feb. 22, 2026, 5:30 a.m. ET
The Philadelphia 76ers opened up their 3-game road trip on Saturday with a 126-111 loss to the lowly New Orleans Pelicans. The Sixers have now lost four in a row as their struggles continued without Joel Embiid. Philadelphia has lost eight of its last nine games in which the big fella doesn’t play as it dropped to 30-26 on the season.
Tyrese Maxey had 27 points and seven assists for Philadelphia while Kelly Oubre Jr. had 25 points and VJ Edgecombe had 14 points and five rebounds. Quentin Grimes had 11, Dominick Barlow added nine and five rebounds, and Jabari Walker had nine and six rebounds.
Here are the three biggest takeaways following this loss to the Pelicans:
Second half struggles
Once again, the Sixers could not come up with any type of success in the third quarter. It has been a big issue for Philadelphia all season and it bit them again in the bayou. The Pelicans outscored the Sixers 40-26 in the third which then led to a 29-20 advantage in the fourth to put the game away. The Sixers shot just 31.4% from the floor in the second half and only 3-for-24 from deep as it was an overall struggle to get anything going. Philadelphia needs to figure out this third quarter issue as this has happened way too often on the season. With now 26 games left, coach Nick Nurse and Co. need to find a way to be effective after halftime.
Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!DeAndre Jordan makes an impact
The Pelicans changed their starting lineup at the last minute and turned to 18-year veteran, 37-year-old, DeAndre Jordan to start. The idea was for New Orleans to go big, which makes sense, but when seeing Jordan had six points, 15 rebounds, and four blocks while being a plus-13 in 31 minutes, that can’t happen. Not to mention, it was only his third game of the season, and he hadn’t played since Oct. 29. Jordan was a great player during his prime with the Los Angeles Clippers, but for him to make that much of an impact is unacceptable with or without Embiid. The Sixers were unable to slow him down in the paint. It was just a tough outing.
Another tough Maxey night from 3-point range
Maxey shot just 2-for-11 from deep against the Pelicans on Saturday and is now just 6-for-22 from deep combined in the first two games coming out of the All-Star break. One has to wonder if the star guard is feeling a bit too much pressure at this point. The Sixers have been relying on him to be the man more often than not as he has played a ton of minutes and has had to play a number of different roles. New Orleans got physical with him from the jump and continued to harass him in a number of different areas on the floor. Whenever Embiid doesn’t play, the Sixers will need to find a way to free up Maxey and give him a chance to get going.