Undermanned Sixers show ‘great spirt and togetherness’ to post fifth victory in seven games
Tyrese Maxey and Paul George became the first pair of Sixers teammates to score at least 30 points and make six three-pointers in the same game after combining to score 73 against the Hornets.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The 76ers still believe they have time to turn things around.
In their eyes, Monday night’s 121-108 victory over the Charlotte Hornets is a solid restart coming off Friday’s disheartening loss to the Indiana Pacers.
“This does the same thing that any win does for us right now — gives us confidence,” Tyrese Maxey said. “We dropped the last game. But other than the last game, we’ve been playing pretty well. So we had to get back to that, playing extremely hard out there.”
» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey and Paul George combine for a big night in the Sixers’ win over the Charlotte Hornets
In addition to improving their 8-16 record, the win marked the Sixers’ fifth victory in seven games. The most impressive part? The Sixers’ win came without Joel Embiid (right sinus fracture), Jared McCain (lateral meniscus tear in left knee), and Caleb Martin (right shoulder impingement).
But Maxey (40 points, 6 of 12 three-pointers) and Paul George (33, 6 of 9 on threes) became the first pair of Sixers teammates to score at least 30 points and make six three-pointers in the same game.
As a team, the Sixers made 16 of 38 three-pointers with Eric Gordon making 3 of 5 to score nine points off the bench.
Kelly Oubre Jr. (19 points, nine rebounds) and Andre Drummond (nine points, 15 rebounds) also had solid performances.
“Obviously, we’ve got a little chip because we’re missing our brothers,” Oubre said. “I’m praying for them, for a speedy recovery and everything going well. But we’ve got to hold it down for them until they get back — keep stacking wins, keep stacking good days. We’ve been practicing really well and everything is carrying over.”
The Sixers have a rematch with the Hornets (7-19) on Friday at the Wells Fargo Center (NBCSP, 7 p.m.). Then, they’ll face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday (NBCSP, 8 p.m.) at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The earliest game that Embiid could return is the Sixers’ home matchup with the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 23.
But the way Maxey and George dominated should give the Sixers some confidence moving forward. For Maxey, Monday’s performance was the result of getting back to being himself.
“I just said I had to smile more and get back to being happy out there playing basketball,” Maxey said. “I think I did that [Monday]. I’m happy. I’m a happy person. And I was happy for my teammates, and how hard they played tonight.”
» READ MORE: Sixers’ Joel Embiid will miss another week as he recovers from a right sinus fracture
The Sixers’ spirit is what stood out the most to coach Nick Nurse. This was a tough matchup against a young and athletic team on paper.
“I thought the guys were together and focused,” Nurse said. “I thought we did a really good job on a couple of things. They’re a fast team and until the end when they started kind of racing up, we did a decent job in transition.”
The Sixers also held the Hornets to just three offensive rebounds in the first half.
“They’re a very good offensive rebounding team as well,” Nurse said. “So we took care of two main keys. But I think it was great spirit and togetherness.”