Philadelphia 76ers earn 10th win against New Orleans Pelicans

PHILADELPHIA -- Asked about the significance of his team's 10th victory of the season, Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown feigned ignorance.

His team, meanwhile, feigned competence.

Reserve Carl Landry went 9 of 10 from the floor and scored 22 points as the Sixers beat the depleted New Orleans Pelicans 107-93 on Tuesday night, ensuring that Philadelphia will not share the mark for the worst full-season record in NBA history.

Isaiah Canaan added 16 points for Philadelphia, which 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.

After the game, Brown fielded a question about his team getting a monkey off its back.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said.

Then he smiled.

"And we move on," he said. "We hope to get a few more before our season ends. I'm happy for our guys. ... They're good people. They genuinely care. They put in a fantastic day's work. Our record wouldn't indicate that, but they do. And so to get a win and just move on, they deserve that."

Landry said the team had grown tired of hearing about potentially tying the record.

"We didn't want to be a part of that," he said. "We tried to do whatever it took to lock in, in practice, in film sessions and just have a carryover to each and every game."

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.

"I thought we were trying, but we just didn't have that energy we usually have," coach Alvin Gentry said.

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.

He also went 4 of 4 from the field and scored nine points during a 14-5 flurry to close the third quarter, when Philadelphia stretched its lead to 88-73.

Landry didn't miss until his final attempt, a jumper with 5:19 left in the fourth quarter. He became the fifth Sixer since at least 1983-84 to score at least 20 points while shooting 90 percent or better off the bench, according to Basketball-Reference.com. The last Philadelphia player to do so was Thaddeus Young in 2010.

The crowd of 10,978 showed appreciation for Landry's efforts, chanting "MVP" when he stepped to the foul line in the fourth quarter.

"I was like, what? MVP? Me?" Landry said. "It was funny. It definitely put a smile on my face, and it makes me feel good."

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.

"I thought the second quarter we started playing like we hadn't in a long time -- selfish and without good ball movement," Gentry said. "More so than anything, we didn't play with a sense of urgency defensively like we've been playing."

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' game-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 on the last-second play, which 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.