By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers were riding high after beating the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night. They faced the Hornets again in the second of their two-game mini-series. Despite some defensive adjustments by Charlotte, Philly was able to use an offensive explosion to beat them 110-106.

It did not look good for the Sixers early in the game. They once again came out a little flat and were missing shots that they usually make. However, they were able to get a big-game from Seth Curry. He scored 23-points and hit four three-pointers. He played well in front of his hometown crowd. He was able to take full advantage of some defensive miscues by the Hornets. They bit on his pump-fakes, and he was able to attack the basket and get some high-percentage shots from the perimeter. His scoring effort alone allowed Philly to get out to an eight-point lead by half-time.

Despite the offensive explosion from Curry. The Hornets continued to fight and were able to come back after the Sixers went cold from the field in the third quarter. Forward Gordon Hayward led them. He scored 31-points and hit two three-pointers. Hayward kept his team in the game, and they were able to retake the lead late in the fourth quarter. Philly had no answers for him. He was getting his shots on all sides of the court. Hayward refused to let his team go down without a fight. The Hornets are clearly a forced to be reckon with when they get their big pieces back off the Covid list.

When the Sixers needed it the most center Joel Embiid answered the call proving his words from Monday night. That he is the closer on this team as he single-handed led a late scoring run that put the Hornets away. He scored 32-points and made the Hornets pay for daring to give him any room to put a shot up.

On getting two straight wins against the Hornets, “Man it feels good. I thought for those two games… We sucked defensively. So we gotta correct that, but a win is a win. But, we can always get better, ” said Embiid.

Philly now will prepare for the Utah Jazz tomorrow night. They will need to have another impressive night on defense if they want to stop the explosive Jazz backcourt. Additionally, they will need to have another balanced scoring night if they want to get their 15^th win of the season.

On facing the Jazz and the Warriors in the next two game, “I’m excited, we gotta win those games. We gotta see where we at as a team,” said Embiid.