PHILADELPHIA — Seth Curry lofted a poor second-quarter pass to Joel Embiid, who initially corralled the ball before allowing it to slip from his grasp. Charlotte’s Terry Rozier found Gordon Hayward for the breakaway finish, two of the Hornets’ 12 consecutive points to take a comfortable lead into the locker room.
That highlight — or lowlight — sequence defined the Sixers’ 109-98 loss Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, which snapped their seven-game winning streak in a defeat marred by 17 uncharacteristic turnovers that the Hornets turned into 23 points.
The Sixers (23-17) entered Wednesday committing the third-fewest turnovers in the NBA (12.3 per game) while running an offense that had hummed so well during their three-week surge. The pesky Hornets, however, entered the night as the NBA’s fifth-best team at taking the ball away from their opponent (15.4 per game) and third in scoring off those miscues (19 points per game).
It was the Sixers’ first double-digit loss since a 35-point defeat in Memphis on Dec. 13, a game played without Embiid. Though they created some third-quarter momentum with a 15-2 run capped by a Curry pull-up three-pointer in transition to cut the Hornets’ lead from 20 to 72-65. Yet Charlotte quickly pushed that lead back up to double digits, then answered any remaining mini Sixers run.
After a Furkan Korkmaz three-pointer got the Sixers within 85-79 in the fourth quarter’s opening minute. Cody Martin hit a three-pointer off an offensive rebound, before LaMelo Ball’s floater bounced in to push the Hornets’ lead back to 90-79. After Harris hit a three-pointer to reduce Charlotte’s advantage to 88-96 with about five minutes to play, Terry Rozier answered with his own triple and Miles Bridges followed with a corner three and alley-oop dunk.
The Hornets got a monster performance from Gordon Hayward, who finished with 30 points on 13-of-16 shooting and six assists.
Another 30 for Embiid
Embiid continues to put himself in elite company, finishing with 31 points to notch his eighth consecutive game scoring at least 30 or more. But it was a much bigger struggle to reach that benchmark.
Embiid battled foul trouble in spurts, picking up two early in the first and another in the third quarter’s opening minute. After going 13-of-13 from the free-throw line during Monday’s win at Houston, he missed four out of his 14 attempts Wednesday. He also committed seven of the Sixers’ turnovers.
After picking up those two early offensive fouls, Embiid immediately responded by hitting a three-pointer, a baseline floater and a driving finish. He also buried a tough turnaround during the last minute of the second quarter.
He was also instrumental in the Sixers’ third-quarter rally, finishing through contact on a put-back and a dunk to help cut into the Hornets’ big lead.
He surpassed 30 points on a dunk with less than two minutes remaining, but the Sixers still trailed by 10.
Maxey’s mixed return
Starting point guard Tyrese Maxey put together an uneven performance in his return from a four-game absence while in COVID-19 health and safety protocols. He finished with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
He found his groove late in the first quarter, when he found Danny Green for a transition three-pointer before hitting a pull-up jumper and step-back three-pointer right before the buzzer to give the Sixers a 35-34 lead. He missed five of his six shots in the second quarter, including a finger roll that barely fell off the rim.
Maxey did not attempt a shot in the third quarter and missed all three of his shots in the fourth, including a three-pointer from the top of the key with his team trailing by 11 about midway through the quarter.
Rotations, rotations
Though backup point guard Shake Milton remained out with a back contusion, this was the closest the Sixers have had to their full rotation available in quite some time.
Furkan Korkmaz and Danny Green were the Sixers’ first subs, replacing Maxey and Matisse Thybulle. With about four minutes to play in the first, Georges Niang came in for Tobias Harris. Andre Drummond replaced Embiid about a minute after that, before Maxey replaced Seth Curry with less than two minutes to play.
In the second quarter, Maxey and Harris anchored one lineup before the Embiid, Curry and Thybulle returned about midway through the period.
But the move toward normalcy was short-lived, when Green went down in the second quarter with a hip injury. He briefly returned in the third quarter but was quickly replaced by Korkmaz. Isaiah Joe then checked in for the first time late in the period.
Niang also briefly stayed in the game after picking up his fourth and fifth fouls in rapid succession in the third, before Harris replaced him. For a significant stretch in the fourth quarter, Rivers turned to the extra-big lineup with Embiid and Drummond sharing the floor together for the first time since the second half of last week’s win in Orlando.
