The Sixer Sense
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Game Preview – Charlotte Hornets @ Philadelphia 76ers

By Rich Martirez

Mar 25, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker (15) and guard Jeremy Lin (7) walk to the bench with their heads down during the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons win 112-105. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker (15) and guard Jeremy Lin (7) walk to the bench with their heads down during the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons win 112-105. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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One of the hottest teams in the East comes to play the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

Mar 29, 2016 – Charlotte Hornets (42-31) @ Philadelphia 76ers (9-65), 07:00pm, The Center

The Charlotte Hornets continue their playoff push tonight, traveling to play the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night. Philly is on the other side of the spectrum, where wins are further down the priority list and player development and evaluation are king. What makes this an important matchup tonight is that Charlotte hasn’t played at home in over a week, and this being their fourth game in the road trip. Traveling so much can leave the team looking ahead to their next game, which is back in Charlotte on Friday.

Philly needs as much help as they can get, with their last win coming ten games ago against the Brooklyn Nets way back on March 11. Since then, injuries have piled up when Robert Covington, Jerami Grant, Richaun Holmes, and Nerlens Noel having to miss games in addition to Jahlil Okafor having season ending surgery for his knee. RoCo has since come back, but the others are currently listed as out for the game, leaving the entire team thin.

At the same time the team is showing fight recently, coming back from a big deficit against the Golden State Warriors in their last game, and staying close in the two games before that, losing by a combined 4 points. Against the Denver Nuggets, Philly had the game in hand until the final seconds of the game. Emmanuel Mudiay shot a prayer from a step inside half court to win it for Denver. Even though he’s shooting 30.3% from three, the Sixers let him get to the center of the court too easily, giving him a better view for his final shot. Still difficult, but you cannot take any possession for granted against the best basketball players in the world.

The next game was almost as heartbreaking, with the C.J. McCollum converting an old-fashioned 3pt play to give the Portland Trailblazers the win. He’s a quality player and again, losing concentration at any point in the game is the nail in the coffin for any team.

It will be an exciting game against the Hornets on Tuesday, with the Sixers wanting to play spoiler.

What To Watch For

Will Christian Wood play?

This is a very serious question for the Sixers going forward. After they cut Sonny Weems over the weekend, the Sixers are in evaluation mode for all of their players. Weems did not make the cut for Philly and so Wood gets his third chance to show what he has for the team. With this inconsistency being a headache this can be from a fan perspective, Sam Hinkie needs to know his cards in order to play them in the upcoming summer.

The questions around Wood are more around his maturity than his talent and the team will have a real gem on their hands if they can screw his head on right. The man has length and has extended range on his shot, even having a big game against the Oklahoma City Thunder back in November as proof of his abilities.

If Sam thinks we have enough bigs, another team could see Wood as an underutilized front court player in Philly’s system and trades for him, or he could even be included in a larger package to get the team an even bigger fish.

Final Take

Fighting for playoff positioning is one of the great motivators in today’s game. Charlotte has clearly found their identity as a defensive team (7th in defensive rating) supplemented with an above average offense (11th in offensive rating). When Steve Clifford took over as coach, he instilled a no-nonsense attitude in the team, which has shown in their professionalism on and off the court and he also has them peaking at the right time, going 7-3 in their last 10 games.

Not only that, but watching this team play you get a sense on how hard Coach Clifford have them going every night, playing an aggressive defensive scheme to take advantage of their athletic wings. Traps coming from guys like Courtney Lee or Nicolas Batum on one side, while having Cody Zeller (he’s athletic for a big man) or Marvin Williams will have less adept ball handlers turning the ball over in pick and rolls. Kemba Walker isn’t a slouch himself on defense, averaging 1.58 steals per game.

Prediction – This game will be a doozy for Philly. It will take a full team effort to knock Charlotte off and, while I think the Sixers will put up a good fight to begin the game, they will eventually fall to the Hornets who will have a big second half.

Where To Catch The Game

  • Watch it! – CSNPhilly is broadcasting the game
  • Hear it! – 97.5 has the game on the radio
  • Stream it! – NBA League Pass is available for anyone out of market