Sixers-Hornets takeaways: Joel Embiid needs to be challenged; Nicolas Batum’s three-point shooting is elite

Joel Embiid and 76ers need some competition.

Nico Batum is low-key one of the league’s elite three-point shooters. And Marcus Morris Sr. continues to play some of his best basketball in the month of December.

Those three things stood out in the Sixers’ 135-82 victory over the Charlotte Hornets Saturday at the Spectrum Center.

Embiid finished with 42 points and 15 rebounds in just 29 minutes, 53 seconds and left the game with 19.8 seconds remaining in the third quarter as the Sixers (18-7) went on to win their sixth straight and send the shorthanded Hornets (7-17) to their fourth-straight loss.

It was his 10th-straight game with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds. He joined Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal (11 games, 200-01), Moses Malone (11 games, 1981-82), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (16 games, 1971-72), and Wilt Chamberlain (12 games, 1964-65) as the last five centers to accomplish that feat.

But Embiid’s dominance is far from surprising, especially not in the last five games against struggling and undermanned teams.

Saturday’s 53-point victory was their largest margin of victory on the road in franchise history. The overall record is 62 points by the Syracuse Nationals over the New York Knicks on Dec. 25, 1960. The Sixers also defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers by 54 points on Nov. 2, 1970.

Fast-forward to this season, Embiid didn’t play in the fourth quarter of the last four games. The Sixers won those games by an average of 37 points. Those four wins came against the Washington Wizards, the Detroit Pistons twice, and the Hornets. The Pistons have the league’s worst record of 2-24, while the Wizards are 4-20.

The Hornets were without six players due to injuries, including to LaMelo Ball (sprained right ankle), Gordon Hayward (stomach virus) and P.J. Washington (left shoulder bicep tendinitis). Meanwhile, Terry Rozier (nose injury) and Ish Smith (nose) both left the game with injuries.

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The Sixers should have another easy test on Monday against the 10-16 Chicago Bulls at the Wells Fargo Center.

Embiid and his teammates won’t have a true test until facing the Western Conference leading Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. Minnesota is 18-5.

But what Embiid is doing is Chamberlain-like. You can’t deny he’s playing against scrub teams, but Embiid is killing them like he’s never done before. In the past, he’d be chucking up threes and going through the motions. Now, he’s destroying teams and padding his statistics.

As a team, the Sixers played with a consistency in their effort in the last four games. It’s been pretty exciting to see.

Wednesday’s matchup against Minnesota and road games against the 15-11 Miami Heat (Dec. 25), 16-8 Orlando Magic (Dec. 27) and 13-9 Houston Rockets (Dec. 29) should be interesting.

The Sixers small forward doesn’t shoot the ball much. As the team’s selfless glue guy, a lot of the things Batum does often goes unnoticed. He only attempted three shots, making one, and scoring three points to go with three rebounds and three assists in 20:14. His biggest impact came on the defensive end against players like Terry Rozier.

But don’t let his seldom-shooting self fool you.

Batum made 1 of 2 three-pointers and is shooting an NBA second-best 49.0% from that distance in a combined 19 games with the Sixers and Clippers. The 16th-year veteran, who turned 35 on Thursday, is shooting 52.3% from deep as a Sixer.

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Morris had six points, four rebounds, and one assist in 15:33 off the bench. The forward made 3 of 7 shots, missing both of his three-pointers.

Even after those rare misses, Morris still is shooting 10 of 15 on three-pointers for 66.7% in December. And that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The 13th-year veteran shot 41.5% on three-pointers in the 136 career games in December.

That’s his third highest three-point shooting percentage month of his career. He’s shooting 50.0% on threes in May. The 34-year-old shot 42.9% from three in August 2020 at the NBA bubble in Florida.