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76ers blow past short-handed Pelicans

Jan 17, 2015 - 5:00 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Philadelphia 76ers were on the winning end of a blowout for a change.

Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams filled the stat sheet against the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans and the Sixers led wire-to-wire in a 96-81 win Friday night, the most lopsided of their eight victories this season.

"We feel good," said Noel. "Coaches have been doing a great job making sure we have our legs under us."

The Sixers took care of the ball, going nearly two quarters without turning it over during one stretch. Their 19-point lead in the fourth quarter was a season-best.

Noel had 17 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks and Carter-Williams scored 22 with seven assists and six rebounds, but neither had to contend with two of the Pelicans' best players.

New Orleans big man Anthony Davis sat with a sprained left toe he suffered in Wednesday's win over Detroit and point guard Jrue Holiday, the former Sixer, missed a second game with right ankle inflammation.

Robert Covington scored 18 points and Luc Mbah a Moute had 13 for the Sixers, who entered the game on a two-game skid after falling to Eastern Conference division leaders Atlanta and Toronto.

Those losses came on the heels of a 3-1 stretch that included their first two home wins of the season. They are 3-16 at Wells Fargo Center.

Alexis Ajinca led New Orleans with a season-high 16 points and a career-best 14 rebounds. Eric Gordon added 16 points and Jimmer Fredette scored 13 for the Pelicans, who haven't won consecutive games since Dec. 16 and 18.

New Orleans coach Monty Williams said Davis' toe grew sore near the end of the Detroit game and didn't respond to treatment as well as the team would have liked. He said Davis and Holiday felt better, but weren't where they needed to be to play.

Williams pointed out that his five starters combined for 10 assists and 14 turnovers.

"We didn't play team basketball with that starting group," he said. "All the things we talk about that we don't want to do, we did tonight: turn the ball over, didn't play together, got outworked. Simple as that."

Ryan Anderson started for Davis at power forward and had eight points on 2- of-11 shooting and Tyreke Evans also scored eight filling in for Holiday again.

The Sixers went more than 21 1/2 minutes without a turnover between the first and third quarters. They stretched a 50-47 halftime lead to 17 in the third quarter and 19 on three occasions in the fourth, the last when Noel's hook shot made it 90-71.

Earlier, they made 10 of their first 13 field goal attempts and had a 22-6 lead after scoring 11 straight points.

The Sixers signed guard Larry Drew II to a 10-day contract before the game, calling him up from Sioux Falls of the NBA Development League. He scored five points in his NBA debut.

Game Notes

The Sixers snapped a three-game losing streak against the Pelicans, who had averaged 122.3 points in the previous three meetings in the series ... The Sixers scored 33 points in the first quarter, a season-high for that quarter ... The Pelicans are 1-2 on a five-game road trip. They visit Toronto on Sunday ... The Sixers are in Detroit on Saturday ... The Pelicans and Sixers will meet again on Jan. 26 in New Orleans.