What: Charlotte Hornets (6-14) (5-7 home) vs Philadelphia 76ers (4-14) (2-7 away)
When: 7:00pm Eastern
Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Statement (purple), 76ers–Association (white)
Game Lines: Hornets +4.5, Hornets money line +160, O/U 209.5
Injuries:
Hornets: MARK WILLIAMS-QUESTIONABLE (foot), DaQuan Jeffries-questionable (hand), LaMelo Ball-out (calf), Miles Bridges-out (knee), Tre Mann-out (back), Grant Williams-out (knee)
76ers: Reggie Jackson-probable (knee), Kyle Lowry-probable (hip), Caleb Martin-probable (back), Joel Embiid-out (knee), Andre Drummond-out (ankle)
It’s a Tuesday night in early December, and you know what that means. It’s NBA Cup night. The Charlotte Hornets have had a disastrous cup showing so far. They’re at the bottom of their group with an 0-3 record and a -27 point differential. The 76ers have only faired marginally better. They’re also eliminated from contention with a 1-2 record. Tonight’s game is effectively just a regular season game one a different court.
The 76ers are simply a bad team right now. Superstar big man Joel Embiid has only appeared in four games. He was barely effective in any of them, and all four went down as 76ers losses. They haven’t been any better without him. Paul George has been in and out of the lineup because he keeps bending his knee the wrong way. Even when he’s played, he hasn’t been good. He’s shooting sub-40% from the field and is averaging just 14.4 points per game. The Sixers let Tobias Harris walk so they could sign worse Tobias Harris.
Tyrese Maxey is the catalyst for anything good the 76ers do. He’s been very LaMelo like with his usage rate, but he hasn’t been quite as efficient. He’s averaging 25.9 points on 22.2 shot attempts per game.
Rookie Jared McCain has been a badly needed overachiever in the season’s early going. He had a good game the first time these two teams played, and at the time it looked like an anomaly. It turned out to be a jumping off point for what’s turned into a rookie of the year campaign. In the 10 games starting with that first meeting, McCain has averaged 22.3 points per game. However, he’s cooled off in the last week or so shooting just 29.3% from the field and 2-of-21 (9.5%) from three in the last three games.
The Hornets have been guarding well in their recent stretch of losses. The 76ers are struggling to score efficiently, so if the Hornets take care of the ball and make the 76ers play in the half court, they can keep the score low. That’ll take pressure off an offense that’s struggling to make shots without LaMelo Ball around to shoulder the load.
The big story is the injury status of center Mark Williams. He’s currently listed as questionable. It’s been almost a year to the day since the last time he suited up for the Hornets. If he can go, the Hornets will have a huge advantage in the front court. With both Embiid and Drummond out, the 76ers are relying on Adem Bona and I guess Guerschon Yabusele to man the center position. Bona is a rookie 2nd round pick that the 76ers probably weren’t planning on playing much this season. Yabusele at the five is basically the same thing the Hornets were trying to make work with Grant Williams at the five. Williams (if he plays), Nick Richards, and Moussa Diabate (if Williams doesn’t play), should be able to control the glass and get lots of good looks at the rim. It’d be nice to have LaMelo or Miles Bridges or Tre Mann to attack the lack of rim protection, but the Hornets can’t have too many nice things.
