Hornets can blow! Because in addition to having grabbed one more victory against a direct competitor in the East, Charlotte ended a series of 16 losses against the Sixers by winning 109-98 at the Wells Fargo Center.
James Borrego’s troops, carried at the start of the game by Gordon Hayward who put in his first 9 shots, made the difference at the end of the second quarter by passing a 16-2 with Miles Briges to accompany Hayward in scoring (48- 62).
Quickly at +20 after a dunk from Mason Plumlee and two new baskets from Gordon Hayward in the third quarter, the Hornets then had to resist a raging Curry-Embiid duo. What they did rather well with the help of the Ball-Rozier-Plumlee trio, even if Tobias Harris and Furkan Korkmaz kept the suspense going by bringing the Sixers down to -6 at the start of the fourth quarter (79-85) .
When everything could have changed, Charlotte finally held on and started again with a dunk from Miles Bridges, who came back to the circle after a counterattack from Joel Embiid (83-94). Miles Bridges then killed the game on his own by lining up a 3-pointer, an alley-oop and two more points after a dunk from Joel Embiid (94-106). Despite all the efforts of the Cameroonian pivot, the Sixers, who remained on 7 straight wins, were thus forced to surrender, beaten 98 to 109.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– End of series(s). The Sixers had not yet lost in 2022, it is now done since the passage of the Hornets in town. The troops of Doc Rivers remained in addition to seven straight victories, carried by a Joel Embiid in great shape, he who chained an 8th game to more than 30 points, the only series still in progress. The Hornets have meanwhile achieved a big blow since it’s been five years since they won against Philly… 16 games in a row!
– The Bridges-Embiid duel. When two of the most spectacular players in the league come together, it’s bound to spark! Suffice to say that the circles took it for their rank and that the two players took malicious pleasure in answering each other, Miles Bridges not hesitating to rub shoulders with a Drummond-Embiid painting, or to go back to the dunk after a counter dunk. Cameroonians. In addition to leaving with the victory, Miles Bridges had the last word by registering his last basket in isolation on a quarter of the field against Joel Embiid.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Gordon Hayward. The leader of the Hornets played his part by installing a climate of confidence from the start of the match by registering his first 9 baskets. Also important at the start of the second half when he allowed his team to have a 20-point lead, he delivered a full game to finish with 30 points 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals.
✅ ⛔ Joel Embiid. The Sixers pivot spared no effort in lining up a new game with more than 30 points. His 7 lost balls however taint the final table, especially since Philadelphia was dominated on the rebound by a team whose racket is not particularly the strong point and that, in this battle, the Cameroonian took only 6 rebounds, which is 4 less compared to his usual average.
THE FOLLOWING
Philadelphia (23-17): the Sixers host the Celtics on Friday.
Charlotte (23-19): homecoming for the Hornets who will host the Magic this Friday.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
