Bobcats Blow Past Sixers 105-88

By Sean Kennedy

The game between Charlotte and Philadelphia was billed as a contrast of styles, with the free-flowing Sixers trying to speed up the pace of play against the deliberate, defensive-minded Bobcats. Well, Philadelphia managed to speed up the action in Charlotte, but forgot to defend anybody in the process. With Michael Carter-Williams not around to jedi mind-trick the ball away from unsuspecting opponents, the Sixers defense was even more porous than usual, constantly allowing the Bobcats access down the middle like they were a packed van going down the HOV lane. If Charlotte wasn’t such an awful outside shooting team (4-21 from three), the game would have gotten even more out of hand early on.

Starting for an injured Michael Kidd-Gilcrist, Charlotte’s Jeffrey Taylor attacked the basket all night to the tune of a career-high 20 points, including a punishing dunk in the fourth quarter. Killing the Sixers’ second unit off the bench was Ramon Sessions, who is always among the league leaders in free throws attempted as he has great ability to craftily get his shots up around the rim among the trees. He had a couple and-one plays in the lane and he and Kemba Walker were able to dish it off to open teammates team and again. The Sixers remained within striking distance until Charlotte locked down on the defensive end in the fourth quarter and Philadelphia went about 5 minutes in the fourth quarter without scoring. Charlotte extended their lead to 18 points and that was the ball game.

The bright spot for Sixers fans on the evening was the play of Tony Wroten. Starting in place of MCW, Wroten brought his usual brand of fearlessness in attacking the rim and overall ‘8-year-old at a salt water taffy store’ level of energy. He nearly finished with a triple-double with 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists, and was the more in-control version of himself with just 2 turnovers. Wroten even had a nice defensive sequence in the third quarter where he blocked a Kemba Walker drive on the fast break and recovered quickly to take a charge from Ramon Sessions seconds later. Just an all-around great night for #8.

Box Score

Notable Observations: 

• Besides Wroten, another young Sixer who had a promising performance was Hollis Thompson. Thompson hit a pair of threes for the second straight game, as his average from behind the arc has crept up to 33.3% on the season. There was a sequence in the fourth where he hit a three and then dove on the floor defensively for a jump ball call; Thompson had a look about him saying let’s get this guys, we’re as good as they are. I liked that look a lot. If he can continue to be a consistent outside threat and show his good instincts in making hard cuts to the rim, the Sixers may have found themselves a rotational player for nothing.
  
• The Sixers made a concerted effort early on to go after Josh McRoberts with Thad Young and had some early success as Thad was too quick for the Jesus-haircut-sporting McBob around the basket. However, Thad suffered a left glute strain in the third quarter and wasn’t very effective in the second half, finishing with just 9 points. Hopefully, Young is alright going forward.
• Brandon Davies had a sequence in the first half where he played one minute, picked up offensive fouls for illegal screens on consecutive possessions, and was immediately sat back down. Davies didn’t score until garbage time when Wroten spoon-fed him for two easy lay-ins; not a great night for the Brigham Young product.
• I think we’ve seen enough from Elliot Williams and Lorenzo Brown. I get that the team is just cycling through young players to see if any one stands out, but I’ve still yet to see any flash of potential from either one of those guys. Bring on the next batch of undrafted free agents! Or Kendall Marshall, now with the 87ers!

Tanking Implications: 

Wroten’s performance bumps this game up a notch but it was hardly the most promising of performances from the team as a whole. Losses to the Bobcats were a key part of the foundation this tank was built upon so things went according to plan in that regard within the Parker, Wiggins, Randle sweepstakes. 4/5 tanks.