CJ McCollum spoils Tyrese Maxey’s return with 11 threes and 42 points in Pelicans’ 127-116 win over the Sixers

NEW ORLEANS — Jose Alvarado snagged the offensive rebound about five minutes remaining, and the ball eventually swung to CJ McCollum for the open three-pointer from the right wing.

The shot went bang, because of course it did.

The 76ers had no answer for the Pelicans’ sharpshooter, whose season-high 42 points on a career-best (and franchise-record) 11-of-16 from beyond the arc lifted his team to a 127-116 victory Friday night at the Smoothie King Center.

“You’ve just got to try to get the ball out of his hands,” said Sixers star James Harden, who is familiar with such scoring outbursts, “and we didn’t do it enough.”

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McCollum’s 10th three-pointer, which surpassed the nine he totaled in a 2020 game against the Houston Rockets, gave New Orleans a 119-107 lead. He pulled up for his 11th with 2:30 to go. When the video board announced his feat during a timeout, McCollum waved his arms to encourage an already-rowdy crowd to get even louder for the 23-12 Pelicans, who are currently atop the Western Conference standings.

McCollum out-dueled Sixers All-NBA center Joel Embiid, who was a monster inside with 37 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.

After the game, however, the Sixers were most irked about their uncharacteristic 19 turnovers that the Pelicans converted into 30 points. That spoiled a night when they shot 56% from the floor, prompting coach Doc Rivers to lament that, “When you shoot that well, you should never lose that game.”

Thirteen of those giveaways occurred in the first half, contributing to a game that dramatically flipped from an early 10-point Sixers advantage to a 17-point deficit. Rivers, Harden, and Embiid said poor spacing and careless passing into traffic against the long and active Pelicans were primarily to blame. Rivers was also displeased with New Orleans’ 14 second-chance points.

“That’s like spotting a team 44 points and then saying, ‘Now let’s play,’” Rivers said.

Added Harden, who finished with seven turnovers: “I’ve got to do a better job of not giving them [the ball]. ... Try to be more strong with the ball.”

The Sixers (20-14) have now followed their eight-game winning streak with two consecutive losses. They will conclude their four-game road trip Saturday night at the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Embiid has now scored at least 35 points in each of his past four games, this time on an efficient 14-of-22 from the floor and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line.

He made six of his seven first-quarter shots — including a breakaway dunk that gave the Sixers a 16-6 lead — for 15 points. He knocked down a three-pointer and nabbed a steal and a basket during his team’s surge to cut that 17-point hole to seven right before halftime.

Embiid went 5-of-8 from the floor in the third quarter, including three scores through contact, to notch another 15 points and keep his team within striking distance. He reached 30 points on a dunk about midway through the period.

The Pelicans’ powerful big man, Zion Williamson, was also effective Friday after scoring a career-high 43 points in Wednesday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He finished with 36 points on 13-of-19 shooting, five rebounds, and two assists.

Williamson was particularly menacing during a 12-point second quarter that came after he twice flew through the air but could not collect the ball to finish an alley-oop. He made five of his seven shots in the period, including a finish through contact that gave the Pelicans a 39-29 lead.

The Sixers’ P.J. Tucker essentially matched Williamson’s minutes. The veteran forward was eventually whistled for a technical in the fourth quarter for arguing a foul called against him while guarding Williamson, and Sixers assistant Dan Burke was T’d up from the bench shortly after another foul was called on Tucker.

“Knowing the rules, the ball was straight down,” Tucker said of that foul call that led to the technical. “ ... We’re battling. He made a call. It is what it is.”

Williamson’s and-one finish with 2:53 to play gave the Pelicans a 121-110 lead to all but put the game out of reach.

Maxey came off the bench in his return from a fractured foot, and at times looked like a player who had not seen game action in about six weeks. He finished with nine points on 4-of-10 shooting, one rebound, and one assist in 19 minutes.

Maxey’s biggest shot came on a three-pointer with about eight minutes to play, which cut the Pelicans’ lead to 107-101.

He checked in at the 5:21 mark of the first quarter, handling the ball while Harden got a breather. He missed his first two shots — a corner three-pointer and then a pull-up triple at the top of the key. His first bucket came on a tough fadeaway early in the second quarter.

He re-entered with 4:57 to play in the third period, missing a baseline shot before going up-and-under for the reverse layup on a similar drive that he said “felt really normal” and helped him build confidence.

“The first half, I was a little nervous,” Maxey said. “But that just comes with it. ... I just tried to kind of merge my way back into what everybody’s been doing, try not to stand out and try to help our team win.”

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Rivers acknowledged that the unusual sub pattern for Maxey may have contributed to a clunky initial stint for the second unit. Maxey began the second quarter with Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Georges Niang, and Montrezl Harrell — a group that recently had Harden as the point guard. Maxey and Harden, though, were on the floor together to begin the fourth quarter. The third-year guard’s return also pushed wing Danuel House Jr. out of the rotation.

When asked if he would play Saturday in Oklahoma City, Maxey said, “I don’t know. We’ll see how the medical staff wants to do it.”