Shorthanded Sixers look to brush off loss to the Hornets, get back on track against the Magic

ORLANDO, Fla. — The undermanned 76ers are far from concerned.

The team remains optimistic after getting stung by the Hornets Wednesday night in Charlotte in what some will perceive as a let-down game.

“We did get good looks. We just didn’t make them,” Tobias Harris said of the 107-101 loss. “That would have changed the whole dynamic of the game. I just think it was one of those nights for us.”

The Sixers (9-9) will look to correct their shooting woes over the final three quarters of Wednesday’s loss during their upcoming two-game series against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center.

» READ MORE: Sixers vs. Hornets takeaways: Big trouble, dribbling issues, and weary bodies

They’ll face the Magic (5-13) at 7 p.m. Friday before concluding this three-game road trip against them at 6 p.m. Sunday.

On Wednesday, the Sixers looked good in the first quarter. They shot 60% from the field and took a 33-21 lead into the second quarter. The Sixers followed that up by shooting 39.3% for the rest of the game.

Things really fell apart in the second quarter when they made just 8 of 24 shots, including missing all six three-pointers. The Sixers lacked ball movement during spells in the third and fourth quarters, and they were also beaten on a lot of 50-50 balls.

“They hustled smarter than us in certain phrases of the game,” P.J. Tucker said. “I think that that led them to lead. We fought them as shorthanded as we [were we] got the game within [two points with under two minutes to go]. We are going to get a chance again.

“If we have a chance to win every single time, I’ll take it.”

The Sixers said they were fatigued from having to play undermanned on consecutive nights. They were without their top three scorers in Joel Embiid (left mid-foot sprain), James Harden (right foot strain), and Tyrese Maxey (left foot fracture) in both games. Meanwhile, second-team All-NBA defender Matisse Thybulle (left ankle soreness) missed Wednesday’s game after playing just 3:22 in Tuesday’s emotional victory over Ben Simmons and the Brooklyn Nets because of the nagging injury. All four players will remain sidelined on Friday.

But Tuesday’s game was the first time Simmons played at the Wells Fargo Center since forcing a trade to the Nets last February. So with all things considered, that was perhaps the Sixers’ biggest win of the season.

Tucker wasn’t concerned that they were unable to duplicate that effort against the struggling Hornets (5-14).

“It’s tough anyways,” he said of playing a back-to-back in Philly and Charlotte. “I don’t care who you play [in] a back-to-back. At home, you fly out and have to go on the road. It doesn’t matter who you are playing. It doesn’t matter how emotional [Tuesday] was. It’s a tough back-to-back, man.

“We had a chance to win it. That’s all you can ask for. Could we have won this game? [A] hundred percent.”

» READ MORE: Sixers play with an edge that’s being sharpened in the absence of their stars

The Sixers are determined to rediscover the edge they played with while winning four of their last five games prior to Wednesday’s defeat.

The Magic are well rested having not played since Monday. However, Orlando has lost two straight and four of their last five games. It could, however, present a problem for the undersized Sixers.

The Magic start a 6-foot-10 shooting guard in Franz Wagner, a 7-2 power forward in Bol Bol, and a 7-foot center in Westtown School product Mo Bamba.