Sixers-Hornets takeaways: Tyrese Maxey’s toughness; Buddy’s Hield’s solid second half

Tyrese Maxey is a tough dude.

Buddy Hield showed what he can do while locked-in and in rhythm. And the 76ers can always count on beating the Charlotte Hornets.

Those three things stood out in Saturday’s 109-98 victory over Charlotte at the Wells Fargo Center.

» READ MORE: What’s the current state of these Philadelphia 76ers? Tenuous.

Maxey joked about being elbowed in the face by Brandon Miller late in the second quarter.

“I got hit and I was like, ‘Oh no! Let me get up!’ Like I don’t want to do that again. but I’m all right. I tell everybody, ‘I’m a soldier so it is what it is.’ I’m taking UFC lessons, though.”

That’s because it’s been a rough couple of weeks for the All-Star point guard.

He received a bloody nose from Miller’s shot four days after clearing concussion protocol. The Hornets forward was called for a flagrant 2 foul on the play and ejected from the game. Maxey received treatment for his bloody nose and remained in the game.

“Also, I want to say, I know Brandon Miller didn’t mean to do that on purpose,” Maxey said. “The jokes I’m making are not personal.”

But Maxey did have a lot of fun after the incident.

The arena jumbotron showed him receiving treatment from head athletic trainer Kevin Johnson after Miller was ejected. With tissue in his bloody nostrils, Maxey acted like he was yelling to the delight of the crowd.

“I’m just having a little fun,” he said. “I mean, we have a great job. We’re blessed to wake up every single morning and do what we love to do. I’m just a happy person. … and playing basketball really makes me happy.

“So it was a cool moment and I just tried to make some fun out of it.”

Hield scored all 14 of his points after intermission on 6-for-9 shooting, including making 2 of 4 three-pointers. This comes after the swingman missed his three first-half shot attempts.

“It was just a bad first half,” he said. “I feel like mentally I wasn’t there. I was just roaming around, and I wasn’t productive. That’s why I didn’t play that much in the first half, I wasn’t productive.”

He’s right.

While being unproductive, Hield only played 5 minutes, 34 seconds before intermission. He logged 14:34 in the second half.

“But you know, second half, you go and regroup yourself, get your thoughts together, get your mind right,” he added. “Go out and shoot a little bit. I was able to see one go down. Attack the basket a couple of times and get a couple of jump shots. Find the flow, so it was good.”

» READ MORE: Sixers prevail against the Hornets after fourth quarter comeback down the stretch

Saturday’s victory marked the Sixers’ seventh-straight series win over the Hornets (17-51). In all, they’ve won 23 of the last 25 meetings.

The Sixers (37-30) prevailed in large part due to making 24 of 25 free throws. This marked their third game with at least 20 makes. They also improved to 13-0 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 points.