The Sixers don’t care much about how pretty their wins are these days.
They pulled away late from the 17-51 Hornets on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center, earning a 109-98 victory.
The shorthanded Sixers, who had lost five of their past six games, now sit at 37-30.
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Tyrese Maxey led the team with 30 points. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 22.
Hornets guard Tre Mann had 21 points.
The Sixers were down Joel Embiid (left knee meniscus procedure), Tobias Harris (right ankle sprain), De’Anthony Melton (lumbar spine bone stress) and Robert Covington (left knee bone bruise).
LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams and Seth Curry were among the key players out for Charlotte.
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On the second day of his 10-day Sixers contract, Kai Jones remained with the Delaware Blue Coats. The 23-year-old big man had 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals Friday in the Blue Coats’ win over the Birmingham Squadron.
“I think that we just wanted to get him 10 days down there (in the G League), first and foremost,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said pregame. “And then after those 10 days, we’ll re-evaluate and take it from there.”
The Sixers will play the Heat next on Monday night in Philadelphia. Here are observations on their win over the Hornets:
Sixers lean on Maxey and Oubre early
The Maxey-Oubre duo did the large majority of the Sixers’ early scoring. The pair posted 19 of the team’s first 22 points.
Oubre was especially good in transition and as a no-fear finisher, throwing down two slams in the first quarter.
Maxey seemed intent on attacking before Charlotte’s defense was set and able to blitz him. The Sixers were less effective when the Hornets swarmed Maxey in the half court. They struggled to move the ball smoothly, let possessions dwindle until the final seconds of the shot clock, and committed turnovers on three consecutive first-quarter trips. The NBA’s lowest-turnover team had 11 giveaways in the first half.
While the Sixers’ spacing, decision-making and overall half-court offense execution were far from elite with Maxey sitting to start the second quarter, Oubre’s cutting continued to shine. He scored two more hoops inside in the second and racked up 17 first-half points. Maxey chipped in 14.
Miller tossed, Maxey smiles through bloody nose
In his third game back from a concussion, Maxey got clocked in the face by rookie Brandon Miller’s elbow with a little under three minutes left in the second quarter.
Upon review, the officials assessed Miller a Flagrant 2 foul, meaning he was ejected from the game. The play indeed appeared to be a very clear instance of “unnecessary and excessive contact.”
Shortly after Miller exited, the Jumbotron showed a smiling Maxey with gauze plugging up both of his bloody nostrils. The home crowd adored that image.
Cameron Payne played the entire second quarter and spent much of it next to Kyle Lowry and Maxey. Payne had a second straight bright performance off the bench, recording 10 points and four assists in 19 minutes.
Lowry’s veteran savvy and sturdiness against far bigger players gives those three-guard lineups a better chance to hold up defensively. Initially assigned to 6-foot-7 Miles Bridges, the 6-foot Lowry was talkative as always and didn’t generally look overmatched in isolation situations.
Sixers eventually seal birthday W for Embiid
The Sixers had a sloppy end to the first half and a Vasilije Micić jumper cut Charlotte’s deficit to 53-49 on the opening play of the third quarter.
Maxey answered with his first three-pointer of the night and drew two free throws a couple of minutes later. The All-Star guard went 11 for 12 at the foul line Saturday and had his first double-digit free throw attempt game since Feb. 1.
The Hornets stayed close, in part because Nicolas Batum and Lowry kept missing open three-pointers. The two combined to start 1 for 8 from long range and Nick Richards’ and-one layup trimmed the Sixers’ advantage to one point.
Eventually, Lowry got a corner three to fall. Buddy Hield (14 points) sunk two timely jumpers late in the third quarter and a buzzer-beating Maxey lay-in gave the Sixers a 79-71 edge going into the fourth period.
Maxey sat to start the fourth and the Hornets made another push. After an ill-advised Oubre lob attempt led to a Mann runner, Nurse called timeout and re-inserted Maxey earlier than he'd planned. Grant Williams made a mid-range jumper to put Charlotte up 82-81.
Maxey's return didn't cause the Sixers to suddenly break away from the Hornets, but Hield and Paul Reed helped tilt momentum back slightly in their favor. Hield scored all of his points after halftime. Reed closed over Mo Bamba and converted a heads-up and-one layup following a Maxey air ball. The Sixers could comfortably exhale after Batum drained a corner three with under two minutes to go.
They relied on Maxey as their top star, got a few vital supporting-cast contributions, and allowed Embiid to enjoy a win from the sidelines on his 30th birthday.