On a rare occasion, the Philadelphia 76ers found themselves on the losing end as they suffered an upset defeat against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers spoke about his team's struggles and bared that they lacked mental toughness as they went up against a less talented squad in the Pelicans.

Via Derek Bodner of The Athletic:

“I thought we lost this game upstairs. I thought this was a mental-weakness game for us,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “We haven’t had a lot of those, but tonight we were mentally weak.”

76ers swingman Tobias Harris also admitted that the Pelicans came out with more aggression to successfully defend their home floor.

“We never brought the physicality to the game. They got all the 50/50 basketballs, all the hustle plays and whatnot throughout the night,” forward Tobias Harris said. “I think mentally, I thought we came into the game just thinking we were gonna outscore them, not really adding the physicality part into the game.”

On Friday night, Pelicans star Zion Williamson certainly brought out the physicality as he scored 14 points in the final frame to put the Sixers in a hole heading to crunch time.

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At the same time, Joel Embiid and the rest of his team also struggled to drain their shots which made it harder for them to inch closer to the Pelicans. The Cameroonian center finished the game with 14 points and nine rebounds while Ben Simmons only notched 10 points and nine rebounds for the Sixers.

With their struggles on both ends of the floor, the 76ers didn't get to stand a chance as they succumbed to a 101-94 defeat against the Pelicans. Due to the tough loss, they also missed an opportunity to tie the Brooklyn Nets for the top spot in the Eastern Conference as they dropped down to 35-17 to nab the second seed.

It may only have been one of those games for Doc Rivers' squad but they can't afford to have any more major letdowns with the playoffs already looming around the corner. Certainly enough, the Sixers will find ways to bounce back from their dismal showing as they aim to garner winning momentum in their coming games.