Sixers takeaways: Celebrating 2001 conference champs, another Joel Embiid domination, and more from win over Pelicans

Saturday morning, Paul George owned the headlines.

Saturday night, however, was all about celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 76ers’ 2001 Eastern Conference championship team.

Joel Embiid continued to put teams on notice that he’s back to playing at an All-NBA level. And Kelly Oubre Jr. is doing his best to fill the void left due to George serving a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy.

Those things stood out on an evening where the Sixers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans, 124-114.

The Sixers improved to 27-21 while extending their home winning streak to three games. Embiid finished with 40 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks, while Oubre added 19 points on the first night of Paul George’s suspension.

Not to be outdone, Tyrese Maxey (18 points, eight assists), VJ Edgecombe (15 points, five assists), and Jared McCain (12 points) were the other double-digit scorers against the Pelicans (13-38).

Former Villanova standout Saddiq Bey led New Orleans with 34 points, while Zion Williamson was held to 11.

But the 2000-01 Sixers were the highlight of the evening.

Not only did that squad reach the NBA Finals, but they were also the last Sixers team to advance past the second round of the playoffs.

That gritty team was led by Hall of Famer Allen Iverson and a bunch of defensive-minded blue-collar players. It was a squad that still carries a lot of weight in Philly and across the NBA. And that’s impressive, considering the Los Angeles Lakers ousted them in five games in the NBA Finals.

“I can say I’m not surprised, because we had an iconic run, but we had an iconic player, too [in Iverson],” said Eric Snow, who was that team’s point guard. “And it was different. It was unique, the city and the players. It was such a connection that I can to this day everywhere I’ve been, and I traveled to other countries, and I’ve been to every state, except two, and I’m always asked about this team.”

» READ MORE: Paul George is suspended 25 games for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy

That season, Iverson was the league MVP, Aaron McKie was the Sixth Man of the Year, Dikembe Mutombo garnered Defensive Player of the Year, and Larry Brown was the Coach of the Year.

Members of the team were on hand and honored during a halftime celebration. Former Sixers team president Pat Croce and former Sixers mascot Hip Hop were the bell ringers.

The thing that made that Sixers squad special was Brown, a true player’s coach, and general manager Billy King assembled around Iverson.

“When you had a talent like Allen, you had to build a team to fit him,” King said. “So I remember talking to Larry quite a bit. Larry had a vision to get him off the ball, get him to two guard, but we needed a bigger guard that could play point guard and defend some of the guards that Allen couldn’t guard.

“And I remember Larry and I talking, and we were saying we were watching Eric, we were in Seattle, and he was the fourth point guard there. And we were like, we think we can beat that.”

So they acquired Snow from the Seattle SuperSonics on Jan. 18, 1998, in exchange for a second-round pick.

“That’s where it started,” King said. “Then it was like, let’s get George Lynch, because we need somebody that can defend the three. Then the big one was Larry, and I looked, we needed a shot blocker, and it was like we knew Allen and Jerry Stackhouse wasn’t going to fit, and so we kept calling Detroit about Theo [Ratliff].”

The Pistons agreed to the trade, but also wanted the Sixers to take McKie for salary purposes.

So on Dec. 18, 1997, they traded Stackhouse, Eric Montross, and a 2005 second-round pick for Ratliff, McKie, and a 2003 first-round pick.

Lynch signed with the Sixers as a free agent on Jan. 21, 1999.

“So it was more than building pieces,” King said. “We wanted guys who could play defense. Larry was a guy that I knew from coaching with him that he didn’t care if you could shoot it. He wanted guys that can play defense, and he’d figure out how to score.”

But Ratliff suffered a broken bone in his right wrist, which forced him to miss the 2001 All-Star Game and the remainder of the season.

In need of a standout replacement, the Sixers traded Ratliff along with Toni Kukoč, Nazr Mohammed, and Pepe Sánchez to the Hawks for Mutombo and Roshown McLeod on Feb. 22, 2001.

Embiid has made things look easy in the first half, especially as of late.

The 2023 MVP and seven-time All-Star scored 23 of his points on 7-for-17 shooting. Two games prior, Embiid scored 18 of his 29 points in the first quarter.

But none of this has been surprising, as the 7-foot-2 center is getting back to his old self after dealing with two left knee surgeries in the previous two seasons.

Embiid averaged 33.2 points while shooting 50.0% on three-pointers, along with 9.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists in his previous six games. And it was the seventh straight game that he’s scored at least 29 points.

“Honestly, surprising,” Embiid said of his play. “Coming into this year, I thought it was going to be more of a tryout year to me. To me, this year has already been successful, because I feel like coming into the year, it was about figuring out, okay, what’s the schedule? How are we going to do this moving forward? And try to figure out how the knee is going to respond every single day.”

He began the season by taking at least two days off after every game. Now, Embiid can play every other day, and he says everything is going well. That’s why this season is already a success.

» READ MORE: Allen Iverson welcomed with MVP chants, Pat Croce praises Eric Snow, and more from Sixers reunion night

“But that doesn’t change my mentality as far as wanting to get better every single day,” he said. “Keep pushing and seeing. ... Like I said, it was supposed to be a tryout for next year and moving forward, and how we are going to do this.

“His name hasn’t been mentioned. But I think guys like Simon Rice [the vice president for athletic care for the Sixers], you know, he’s been probably the main guy when it comes to everything. I would say probably everybody gave up on me. He’s the one guy that just kept trying to figure it out ... I’m really thankful because he was that one person.”

Embiid scored on putbacks, jumpers, and layups while making it tough for everyone who had the misfortune of guarding him.

At one point in the season, the Sixers appeared to be Maxey’s team. But Embiid is showing that he can still be the franchise player. Fans chanted “MVP ... MVP ... MVP!” as Embiid attempted foul shots in the closing seconds.

“He’s really good at basketball,” Maxey said. “That’s really good, though. And I’m not trying to be funny. He’s playing the right way, too. He’s getting people involved, rolling. I think the biggest thing right now is his trust level and his teammates.”

The biggest question surrounding the Sixers is who’s going step up in George’s absence.

Oubre appears to be the frontrunner to do that. The 6-8 swingman scored his points on 7-for-13 shooting – including making 3 of 7 three-pointers – to go with 10 rebounds and four assists.

This isn’t the first time that Oubre was a force in a game. He scored a season-high 29 points on Nov. 2 against the Brooklyn Nets. He’s also scored at least 18 points on 10 occasions. But he’s been known more for crashing the boards and guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter defender.

He’s sure to get more offensive opportunities with George out. And he’s excited about that.

“But at the end of the day, man, any given night we have a team that people can show up and put points on the board and be key contributors to winning,” Oubre said. “And I just want to be a key contributor to winning, whether you know my role be what it was or what it is, just try to take everything with grace and just take the proper steps to be prepared for anything.

“But at the end of the day, man, I just want to prove that, you know, I’m a valuable piece to this league, and to this team, and you know, that I just continue to show up every day.”

And if he continues to excel, the Sixers may be better suited to weather the storm.

His teammates are confident that he can step in for George.

“We’ve seen it,” Oubre said. “We’ve seen it last year. We’ve seen it the year before. We’ve seen it early this year. He did a really good job early in the season, just kind of playing that role, scoring, rebounding, and defending.

“I think he had 10 rebounds tonight. That’s big time. We’re going to need it, especially filling in for that role. And I have trust in him, because Kelly’s a guy who is not scared of the moment.”