Joel Embiid Muscles Sixers to Victory Over Hornets in Overtime
CHARLOTTE, NC - The Charlotte Hornets fell in overtime 127-124 to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night in what was one of the most entertaining games of the season at Spectrum Center.
Nick Richards earned another start in place of Mason Plumlee and gave the Hornets a boost early on the offensive end of the floor with six quick points including an alley-oop from Miles Bridges.
With the Hornets down five guys due to being in the NBA's Health & Safety protocol, it forced head coach James Borrego to play some of the younger guys like JT Thor and 2021 1st round pick James Bouknight. Thor brought everyone inside Spectrum Center to their feet with a thunderous slam dunk over Andre Drummond. The play also resulted in an and-one with Drummond being tagged with a foul.
On the next Hornets' possession, Bouknight showed great hustle snagging two offensive boards which led to a three-pointer from Thor. Charlotte went on a 12-2 run to close out the opening quarter, holding claim to a 34-23 lead over the Sixers.
After a limited output in the first, Joel Embiid bullied Charlotte's bigs in the second quarter and throughout the remainder of the night. Philadelphia continued to feed him the rock and it led to many buckets and trips to the free-throw line. The 76ers went up 62-51 with just a shade under two minutes to go when Danny Green drilled a corner three. Philadelphia looked as if they were about to create some serious separation before heading into the locker room but the Hornets ate away at the lead. Miles Bridges hit a three with 2.5 seconds left and then Kelly Oubre Jr. recorded a steal on the ensuing inbound and swished a three at the buzzer to cut the Sixers lead to 67-62 at the half.
As expected, Embiid continued to give the Hornets issues in the second half notching 13 points in the third quarter. After back-to-back trips to the free-throw line for Embiid, the Sixers took an eight-point lead. A pair of threes from P.J. Washington and a floater by Gordon Hayward at the buzzer trimmed it to just a two-point game heading into the fourth.
Isaiah Joe hit a three to push the score to 108-107 but the Hornets made their surge fueled by the rookie, James Bouknight. He hit a couple of free throws and then followed that up with a massive putback dunk. Cody Martin picked up points in the paint on the next trip down the floor to give the Hornets a 109-108 lead.
Down two, Miles Bridges hit a mid-range jumper to knot things up, and then Oubre hit a corner three in front of the 76er bench to take a 119-116 lead with exactly one minute to go in the game. Embiid was fouled on the ensuing possession but only hit one of two from the line. Kelly Oubre had a chance to hit another corner three but didn't have enough on it which allowed the Sixers to tie the game on an Embiid mid-range jumper.
The Hornets wanted to put the game in the hands of Miles Bridges but his shot came up short and the ball was last touched by Gordon Hayward who was going out of bounds. Embiid missed a shot at the elbow on the other end, sending the game to overtime.
Joel Embiid scored the first six points in the overtime period for Philadelphia while Oubre had the first five for Charlotte. P.J. Washington forced up a tough shot near the rim and a defensive breakdown by the Hornets opened the door for an easy dunk by Tobias Harris pushing Philly's lead to 127-124. Washington missed a three but the Hornets got a stop to give themselves a chance with it still being a one-score game. Instead of going for the tie, Bridges attacked the rim and put up a shot falling away from the basket. Fortunately for Charlotte, the 76ers turned it right back over giving the Hornets another crack at it. Oubre heaved up a deep, contested three that clanked off the left side of the rim to bring us to a final score of 127-124.
The Hornets and 76ers will battle once again on Wednesday inside Spectrum Center at 7 p.m. EST.
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