This past Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia Sixers beat the Charlotte Hornets 107-105, in an overtime thriller. The Sixers were without their two All-star players, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. Maxey was out with an injured hamstring against the Los Angeles Clippers and Embiid served the last of a three-game suspension for shoving a reporter. The Hornets were missing their star player, Miles Bridges, which was due to a bruised knee.
During the first half of the game, both teams scored very few points, with the Sixers leading 46-45 during halftime. With 6:55 remaining in the second quarter, power forward Grant Williams made a three pointer against Paul George, allowing the Hornets to take the lead 33-32. But in the last two minutes of the second quarter, Kelly Oubre made three consecutive layups, finishing the half with a Sixers lead of 46-45.
At the end of the third quarter, Jared McCain, a guard for the Sixers, made a three-pointer and the Sixers ended up outscoring the Hornets, 30-21.
In the final quarter of the game, the Sixers were leading by up to fourteen points. However, the Hornets were able to catch up, and this resulted in an overtime period between these two teams.
The overtime period consisted of leads changing between the Hornets and Sixers. The most important play was when Caleb Martin got the offensive rebound after Guerschon Yabusele missed two consecutive free throws.
The two most pivotal players for the Sixers were McCain and Yabusele, who scored 27 and twenty points respectively. In the third quarter, Yabusele helped the Sixers significantly, scoring ten points, while McCain scored 23 of his 27 points during the second half of the game, setting a new career high in the process. These two role players stepped up their games and allowed the Sixers to improve to a two-seven record. Andre Drummond, the Sixers starting center, led the team in rebounds with a total of ten.
“In preseason games and real games, he just shows that he’s really got a knack for scoring, he’s got a knack for getting by people. He can hit a three here and there as well, he’s got some deep range. He’s not afraid,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said of Jared McCain.
On the other hand, Lamelo Ball led the way in scoring for the Hornets with 38 points. Ball also acquired four rebounds, eight assists, and two steals. He was an inefficient thirteen-30 within the paint field goal and six-eighteen from the three point line.
This is a much needed win for the Sixers as they have lost five games in a row, due to all of their star players being riddled with injuries and a suspension.
The Sixers are set to play the Orlando Magic tomorrow at 7 p.m.
