Shorthanded & Short Sixers Fall to Hornets

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Charlotte 100, Philadelphia 85 – Box Score

Whoever said it wasn’t the size of the dog in the fight, didn’t have in mind Tuesday’s game between Philadelphia and Charlotte. The Sixers entered play extremely thin in the frontcourt, missing Nerlens Noel, Jerami Grant, and Richaun Holmes, with Jahlil Okafor already out for the year. Brett Brown’s strategy to counter this problem was to have the Sixers fire away from the perimeter with reckless abandon.

Fire away they did; Philadelphia tied a franchise-high with 16 threes on a franchise-record 44 attempts. Robert Covington led the way, draining 6 of 14 triples for a team-high 18 points. Multiple times the Sixers went with a line-up where Nik Stauskas was the second-tallest player on the floor. It led to some fun sequences with Kendall Marshall guarding Frank Kaminsky and Ish Smith recording a career-high 3 blocks. On a few occasions, the Sixers cut the Charlotte lead down to 10.

However, there was an obvious downside, as the Sixers were out-rebounded 65-45 and outscored on points in the paint 48 to 22. Nic Batum reached a triple-double in the third quarter and finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists. Meanwhile, Cody Zeller recorded 18 points on 7-8 shooting and 11 rebounds, causing Marc Zumoff to actually proclaim at one point, “Can the Sixers stop Cody Zeller?” It might have been the low point of the season.

Aside from those Covington hot streaks and a solid first half from Nik Stauskas (11 of his 13 points coming before halftime), the bright spot of the game was Elton Brand. The veteran big man had 7 points and 9 rebounds, while more impressively, showing his much younger teammates how to display some hustle.

So an Old School Chevy pulls up to the scorers table… pic.twitter.com/QMKrIaVKUC

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 30, 2016

The Sixers are still in search of avoiding history and grabbing that 10th win; next up they’ll complete their home-and-home with the Hornets Friday night in Charlotte.