Sixers Stung by Hornets in Dispiriting Effort

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Remember last year when fans were actually concerned the Sixers were hurting their draft position by winning too many games? Those days feel like a lifetime ago and these are simpler times we live in. Now, even teams playing abysmally against the rest of the league come into the Wells Fargo Center and just lay a beatdown on the Sixers, teams like Charlotte who were 6-19 and 1-10 on the road before Friday night’s contest.

The real kick in the teeth was the Sixers wasted one of those rare nights where they actually shoot the ball well. They shot 12-26 as a team from behind the arc, with Robert Covington going 6-8 (very encouraging) and Tony Wroten draining 4-6 (unsustainable). The pair each scored 19 points to lead the team, and with those sort of offensive numbers, the Sixers should have been right in this ballgame.

Sadly though, it was the hustle plays and careless mistakes that doomed the Sixers, aspects of the game they should be able to control regardless of any perceived talent gap between the clubs on the floor. Philadelphia was annihilated by the Hornets on the defensive glass, with Charlotte collecting 17 offensive rebounds while the Sixers had just 2 themselves. In addition to those difficulties, the Sixers also turned the ball over 24 times, a total extremely high even for a team worst in the NBA in that department. When you’re giving the ball away before getting up shots yourselves, and affording the opposition extra opportunities, you’re simply not going to be able to remain competitive.

When the Sixers weren’t hurting themselves, Kemba Walker was doing the rest of the damage. The former UConn star dropped a season-high 30 points on 13-23 shooting, continually knifing into the lane off the pick-and-roll for easy buckets in the paint. It didn’t matter who was guarding him, Michael Carter-Williams, Tony Wroten, Hollis Thompson, Walker took on all challengers and left a trail of broken ankles in his wake. With the Sixers not taking the court at the Wells Fargo Center again until 2015, it was an extremely bad note to go out on.

Another Sixer Leaves Town

Of course, there was news off the hardwood Friday as well, as Sam Hinkie kept the trade wheels spinning, getting involved in a three-team deal that sent Alexey Shved to old pal Daryl Morey in Houston. In return, the Sixers receive Ronny Turiaf, the rights to Ukrainian Sergei Lishouk, and most crucially for Hinkie, Houston’s 2015 2nd-round pick. 2nd-round picks are like catnip to Hinkie, but it was still a bit surprising to see him give up on Shved, who is still young-ish at 26 and had shown flashes of potential (a team with title aspirations like the Rockets was interested in acquiring him after all). I personally enjoyed the Alexey Shved era; I’m sorry to see him go. Turiaf is out for the season with arthroscopic hip surgery, and likely to be waived, so don’t expect to ever see his glorious dreads in a Sixers uniform.