Sixers' Ben Simmons, Danny Green Have Concerns After Win vs. Pelicans

Sixers starters Danny Green and Ben Simmons have concerns about the team's play as of late after defeating the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Philadelphia 76ers reached a significant milestone on Friday night. With a victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, the Sixers notched their seventh-straight win, which marks the highest win streak of their quite successful season.

One would think that the team that notched a season-high win streak, improving their lead as the best team in the Eastern Conference, would have some sense of excitement about it, but the Sixers aren't exactly thrilled right now.

Sure, they climbed out of a four-game losing streak by firing off seven-straight victories, but the strength of competition hasn't been notable. Whether they're playing inferior teams or shorthanded squads, the Sixers have gotten lucky over the last week.

While winning seven games in a row is still a solid accomplishment in the NBA, no matter what, the Sixers aren't exactly kidding themselves right now. Just the other night, Philly's superstar center Joel Embiid admitted that his team's recent victories don't necessarily excite him too much.

"These type of wins don't excite me too much," said Embiid on Wednesday. "We haven't really played good teams. Right before [this stint], we played Milwaukee twice, Phoenix, Steph (Curry) when he was hot and making everything. So, we had a couple of tough games against really good teams. Lately, games have been easier, and that's why we've dominated."

The Sixers might've dominated their opponents earlier in the week, but a Zion Williamson-less New Orleans Pelicans team gave them a tough time on Friday night. With all Sixers starters playing over 30 minutes in a game where they should've gotten the fourth quarter off, the Sixers barely squeaked by the Pelicans with a 109-107 win.

“We gotta do a better job,” said Sixers guard Ben Simmons. “When we have the lead, we've got to hold it. Everyone needs to hold each other accountable on that, and we gotta play better defense. I think overall, we didn’t really stop the ball, we let too many drives get into the lane, so we got to a better job.”

Following Friday's game, the Sixers have just five games left on the schedule before heading into the 2021 NBA Playoffs. The Sixers' chances of entering the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the East is high. But Sixers veteran Danny Green wants to see the team play a lot better than they have played recently before getting to the first round of the tournament.

“We’re getting wins, but I don’t like the way we’ve been getting them,” Green admitted. “We got to be more locked in, and any team can win on any given night. They’re very talented teams regardless, but these teams are not 100-percent healthy. They don’t have everybody, and if we’re gonna play like a championship contender team that wants to be the last team standing with the potential we can play at, we do need to do a lot better.”

The Sixers will continue their final stretch of the season with another game on Saturday night at home against the Detroit Pistons. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.