76ers 107, Pelicans 93
PHILADELPHIA -- Reserve forward Carl Landry went 9 of 10 from the floor and scored 22 points as Philadelphia beat the depleted New Orleans Pelicans 107-93 on Tuesday night, ensuring that the 76ers will not share the mark for the worst full-season record in NBA history.
Isaiah Canaan added 16 points for the Sixers, who snapped a 12-game losing streak and improved to 10-68 with four games remaining in the season. Nik Stauskas and Hollis Thompson had 13 points apiece.
Philadelphia's 1972-73 team fashioned the poorest full-season record at 9-73.
Dante Cunningham scored 19 points and Luke Babbitt had 16 to pace New Orleans (29-48). The Pelicans, who saw a two-game winning streak end, are without eight of their top nine players because of injury.
Alexis Ajinca had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Pelicans. Tim Frazier chipped in 12 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Landry, who also collected nine rebounds, made all five of his shots from the field and scored 11 points as the Sixers outscored the Pelicans 34-18 in the last 11:05 of the first half to take the lead for good.
Philadelphia went 4 of 4 from the field and scored nine points during a 14-5 flurry to close the third quarter, stretching its lead to 88-73.
Landry didn't miss until his final attempt, a jumper with 5:19 left in the fourth quarter. The Sixers were up by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter.
The Pelicans led 21-9 out of the gate and were still ahead 33-23 early in the second quarter. Then Landry went to work.
Babbitt paced New Orleans with 14 points before the break and Frazier contributed 10 points and five assists.
NOTES: Pelicans F Dante Cunningham, who played for Villanova's last Final Four team in 2009, did a pregame television interview while wearing his old college jersey, in the wake of the Wildcats' dramatic 77-74 victory over North Carolina in Monday night's national championship game. Asked about his reaction to Kris Jenkins' winning 3-pointer, Cunningham said, "All I could do is scream." ... Sixers coach Brett Brown is friends with Villanova coach Jay Wright and said he marveled at the execution of the last-second play that saw G Ryan Arcidiacano pitch the ball to a wide-open Jenkins for his decisive shot. "As much as you want to script the world and you want to script life and you want to know what's coming, it isn't like that," Brown said. "The game isn't like that. You want to put them in places that they can succeed, but rarely does it play out like it seemed to play out last night." ... Philadelphia F Richaun Holmes (right Achilles strain) missed his fifth straight game. ... Philadelphia C/F Nerlens Noel returned after missing the previous six games with a right knee contusion. He had four points and six rebounds off the bench.