The Charlotte Hornets had a 15 point lead in the third quarter, but the well dried up on offense and they watched the game slip away to the Philadelphia 76ers, 118-114.
The Summary
The Hornets got out to a small early lead, but Joel Embiid drew two quick dubious foul calls on Moussa Diabate in the first three minutes of the game. The 76ers fed him, and whether by making shots or by flailing around to draw whistles, he was very difficult for Ryan Kalkbrenner to stop. On the other end, the Hornets went back at the 76ers’ big, and he gave back pretty much all the points he scored. Brandon Miller was the primary beneficiary. He scored 16 points to lead the Hornets to an 11 point advantage after one quarter. They clung to that lead all second quarter long despite some pretty insane heroics by Tyrese Maxey. Coby White starred at first then the rest of the usual contributors followed suit. At the half, the Hornets led by five.
The 76ers scored the first five points of the second half to tie the game, but Brandon Miller had an answer for that. He spurred an 11-0 run to put the Hornets back up double figures. It didn’t stay that way for long though. Some good shot making by the 76ers combined with a prolonged spell of cold shooting let the visiting team claw back into the game. The Hornets stayed afloat with their continued dominance on the glass and kept their five point lead with one quarter to play.
The frigid shooting continued deep into the fourth quarter. The Hornets did not score a point for over five minutes. They did, however, draw a bunch of fouls to get into the bonus early. Miller finally broke the seal with free throws, and that let Kon Knueppel and LaMelo Ball throw some threes through to put the Hornets back ahead. Both teams threw punches. Miles Bridges of all people knocked down a go ahead three at one point, and LaMelo knocked down three of his own threes. Embiid had a chance to tie the game late with a pair of free throws, but he missed the back half. That ended up benefiting the Sixers, as the ball was knocked out of bounds by the Hornets. That allowed them to draw up a play that resulted in a Paul George three to go up two. Maxey added one more free throw after a Hornets turnover, giving the Hornets one last gasp down by three. LaMelo got a decent look in the corner, but it came up just short.
The Good
With how bad they shot the ball, the Hornets had no business being in this game had it not been for their offensive rebounding. Moussa Diabate is always the star here, but he got a whole lot of help in this game. He tracked down seven offensive rebounds, and the Hornets as a team got 20. They had a bunch of possessions in the middle of the game where they kept getting shots up until one finally went in. Having that as a backup plan when the threes aren’t falling is going to be key when we get to the postseason.
Brandon Miller had an incredible game despite some early foul trouble again. He was the only Hornet that was able to maintain his offensive efficiency throughout the entire game. He got held in check in the fourth quarter, but he was a scoring machine prior to that. It was also nice to see him work his way to the line as much as he did.
Coby White had a very very good first half, but he struggled to make an impact in the second.
The Bad
If you played a drinking game where you took a sip of a light seltzer every time Joel Embiid fell to the floor, you’d be blackout drunk if not dead from alcohol poisoning by the end of the game. He’s probably pushing 300 pounds and crumples to the floor whenever someone bumps him. And the worst part of it is that he gets rewarded for it. He was gifted free throws once or twice where he was quite literally diving to the floor while throwing the ball to the basket despite there being little to no contact. It’s impossible to guard such a large human when he’s allowed to play that way.
The obvious problem was the outside shooting. The Hornets didn’t play their best offense by any means. They struggled with some ball pressure in the second half and didn’t do a great job of pressuring the rim. But they did manage to create some good looks for themselves from three. They just didn’t go in. It happens. They were 6-of-30 from three in the second half. The 76ers do get some credit for that with their defense, but even when the offense isn’t humming, I expect them to shoot significantly better than that 90% of the time. The key now is to not let a cold shooting night persist to tomorrow.
The loss means the Hornets lose the season tiebreaker to the 76ers, which could hurt when we get to the end of the season.
What’s Next
No time to lick the wounds. The Hornets welcome the Celtics to town on Sunday evening to wrap up the home stand.