“Zion is at his BEST and MOST EFFICIENT version in his career.” – ESPN on Pelicans beat 76ers 103-95

“Zion is at his BEST and MOST EFFICIENT version in his career.” – ESPN on Pelicans beat 76ers 103-95

[Applause] Wow what a comeback almost but unfortunately just not enough as we welcome you here to Sixers postgame live brought to you by Cur a insurance Amy FID alongside the coach Jim Liam and Her Big Man Mark Jackson and listen 35-point lead for the Pelicans in the first half

Sixers cut it to five with under a minute to go unable to get over the hump but it’s tough when you build that kind of of ho to dig yourself out of but a real Valiant effort in the second half it was aim and they were still within

Striking Distance there were enough time on the clock you just said when they cut it to a five-point game but typically in games like this I often say look for the best player on the court to make the best plays and Zion Williamson May one at the defensive aim and a great block

And then that drive at the other end really sealed the deal yeah I mean Mark it’s tough when you go into a locker room down 30 points in the first half to come out with that kind of Firepower and the Sixers did though so I guess there’s some if you’re looking for Silver

Linings I think that would be one what do you think was said at halftime I don’t think it was anything particular set first of all Nick n said look we got to come out we got to play harder than what we’re currently doing and they did that and I thought things started to

Fall the way I thought they got more confidence driving the ball as six as that is and I think also in the defensive end I thought they defensive it’s not only in this sport that I’ve seen it in other the sports you try to protect the lead instead of trying to

Build on it yeah I think anybody watching a game knows exactly that prevent defense and just makes everybody nervous as everybody’s kind of inching closer to that goal liner in this case uh towards the finish line for the Sixers Willie Green of course former sixer the coach of the Pelicans probably

Watching that clock thinking when is it going to go you got to keep it going keep it going start looking at the table like you’re holding his clock exactly what’s no no no more reviews let’s just keep on going let’s check out Zion Williams tonight as we were just talking

About his block and a couple of the drives he had late 23 points 7 to 14 9 for9 free throws this guy’s a 69% free throw shooter on his career but certainly something he’s worked on uh 12 rebounds four assists that’s maybe a surprising thing about his game Mark

Jackson is he is the subject of our yling present ler up he is a better passer which is something he’s going to have to get Adept to because he’s always going to draw the double team absolutely Amy and when CJ mccullum’s out the game they Bo he’s pretty much the primary

Point guard for them he’s a point four for them he makes plays happen and his ability to get better at that just makes him more Unstoppable you know he’s a wrecking crew when he gets to that Rim it’s hard to stop him now you put the

Ball on his hand it gives him more momentum getting to the room look at that one of the things that’s been in question about Zion Williamson is his motor it’s hard to question on a game like this when you see he was able to go you know start to finish gym but when

You see him play at this level with this kind of production it’s it’s easy to see why he was taking number one overall oh yeah no he’s a he’s a very gifted guy you know very powerful player no question when he’s going to the basket

It’s um I think he still has a little upside believe it or not too game I mean this every bit as much as i’ say if he were my guy I would I would get a big cart of Barkley tapes and i’ drop him right on his doorstep and say dude watch

This uh start to finish when you get the chance you can see most points a game against the Sixers minimum five games Z Williamson has those five games and he just eak out Michael Jordan with 31 points on average so five games he really enjoys playing the Sixers

Obviously a smaller sample size but a five game is no jokee your team in the west and you’re going to see him uh quite a bit um as far as you know kind of do this kind of production 31 points on average in five games when he met

With the Sixers earlier back in November was 33 points so an off night with his 23 if you can call it that but you mentioned Barkley and I think that’s maybe a fair comparison and Mark I think you said it halftime you can you can maybe compare them to Joe Frasier these

Are obviously like really um physical tough guys big bodies is he that guy for you that can be a real difference maker consistently for a team Zion absolutely Amy let me tell you why because his ability to score the ball at a high clip because his the way he scores it is

Either a bucket or a foul so he’s continuously putting pressure on you he’s not shooting contested jump shots you know he’s driving the ball and his ability to maneuver On The Run prevents you from taking a lot of charges on him Kyle Lowry got one on them today but

They tried to get like 15 charges on him his ability to maneuver in the air you’re unable to get charges meaning he’s going to come at you play after play after play and eventually embrace you like a boxer like Joe Fraser would working your body eventually you will

Break down and that’s what he does the teams yeah you saw that tonight uh with Reckless abandon that teams who were the last five games coming into this one the Pelicans had been averaging a little over 120 points the good news is the Sixers did limit them in the second half

We talked about how they cut that lead from 35 down to five I’m sure Nick nurse is going to be asked about that we’re going to hear from him after this quick time out out here on Sixers postgame live brought to you by Cure auto insurance stick with us buckets from him

As well Jim oh yeah he was part of the Sixers being able to make that second half charge I like he plays with a lot of he’s always involved in those uh plays you know that just uh they’re not going to stand out on a stat sheet but

He gives his body up he goes after loose balls he battles under the board I like Paul R yeah so I know we’re going to have to talk about it because Tobias Harris coming off a forgettable game against the Grizzlies not the case tonight a little bit maybe of a SL start

But nine of 19 finish strong 21 points and a plus 10 a plus 10 on a game that you were down 35 and you lose by five is a remarkable number meaning that Tobias Harris was out there for those large stretches when they went on that 11

Nothing run the 17-2 run when you’re looking for positives that’s got to be a good sign absolutely any anytime when when Tobias finds his way and finds his Mark able to be aggressive and score the ball at a good clip I’ll take that yes

He had a he a slow start but he finished strong but I hope this PS them for the next game 10 rebounds uh three of them offensively I think is important when you’re talking about a team Paul Reed with six offensive rebounds talking about a team they really struggled with

Their second chance points the other day three assists uh three steals for Tobias and one block so this was a a more complete game when you’re having a player coach that’s dealing with some confidence issues like you’ve seen with Tobias this game is something you could

Point to and say listen if you just keep at it you can be rewarded yeah and I like this second half I thought he made an effort to put the ball on the floor and just go right right at it and he got a couple of big field goals as the

Sixers were end route to cutting that lead down to Five Points yeah it was a big one unfortunately when you dig that big of a hole it is a tough task to try to climb out of it Sixers did everything they could Unfortunately they fall by

Five we are waiting to hear from Nick nurse we’ll bring that to you as soon as we come back here on Sixers postgame live proudly brought to you by Cure auto insurance appreciate you look forward to BT’s huddle as soon as we are done Nick nurse maybe chatting with his team a

Little bit after this one here he is have you sort of just evaluate this one where obviously a bad start you can make a game of it overall yeah well I don’t I you know I think it’s um you’re certainly not um very proud of the way the team came

Out and played the first half right and then you’re you know you pretty proud of the the way they fought back in it they actually you know almost gave themselves a chance I think with with you know one one one or two more breaks down the stretch and and uh maybe another two

Minutes on the clock we might have had a shot right I mean I don’t know what else to say it wasn’t wasn’t very pretty in the first half and we got a little tougher and and um started executing the defensive schemes that we planned on executing in the first half we started

Doing him in the second half and it took us a long way does it kind of like entering this contest and you don’t want to make excuses the right thing but does it kind of feel like sometimes like the deck is kind of stacked against you a

Little bit cuz I mean with all the pieces you’re missing yeah I mean yeah I mean obviously you’re you’re um you know we continue to go into you know we just aren’t we just aren’t reeling anything back right there just there just it just seems like there’s some the list keeps getting

Longer every night and that’s you know that’s not easy for anybody body’s mentality or psyche but again no no excuses like there’s there’s some good players out there that need to play a heck of a lot better than they did right yeah in that fourth quarter where you did like you said

Almost give yourselves a chance to win a 3419 advantages the execution was mostly there right what can you take from at least the fourth quarter by itself and maybe Propel you guys over these next few games and start getting people back yeah good question I mean listen it was

It was um it was um there’s a couple things you’re doing when you’re getting your defensive game plan together right so there’s there’s certain schemes that you’re doing as a team and then there’s certain things you’re doing to Key Personnel right and pretty much foree for spee she he So my new Fore foree fore all for Speee Joh spe foreign foreign speech foreign for Spee Fore speech for spech fore Foree spee fore for Spee You Foree spee Foreign spee Foree [Applause] spee spee Foree Soe

“Zion Williamson is at his BEST and MOST EFFICIENT version in his career.” – ESPN on Pelicans beat 76ers 103-95