Sixers Drop 10th Straight in Loss to Hornets

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Charlotte 119, Philadelphia 99 – Box Score

Wednesday night, one team played like it was fighting for a playoff berth, and one team played like it would have been thrilled if the season was over weeks ago. Since this was NBA basketball and not some type of Freaky Friday body swap situation, you can guess which side the Philadelphia 76ers fell on.

It was also a night the Sixers honored legendary statistician Harvey Pollack, the man who gave Wilt Chamberlain the piece of paper reading “100” after the Stilt’s legendary game, “10” became the round number of note, as Philadelphia suffered its 10th consecutive loss. Once again, a lack of defense was front and center as the reason for failure, as the Hornets fell just one short of 120 points, the new standard for defensive futility for the Sixers post-All Star break. People certainly can’t point to Jahlil Okafor as a reason the defense is hurting, as the rookie sat out his second straight game with a bruised shin.

Instead, it was Kemba Walker going off for 30 points on 10-21 shooting, joining John Wall as the lightning-quick guards to give Ish Smith and T.J. McConnell fits. Cody Zeller had a strong performance, recording 15 points and 4 blocks, just generally outplaying Nerlens Noel and being the more physical presence on the interior. Noel had 17 points, but only 3 rebounds and a bench of defensive miscues; his usually terrific defense has just fallen off a cliff in recent weeks.

There was one stretch where it looked like the Sixers might take advantage of a Hornets team with tired legs on the second night of a back-to-back. Philadelphia went on a 20-3 run in the third quarter, actually taking a 70-67 lead. Robert Covington hit one of his four threes on the night; he finished with 17 points on 6-13 shooting and 9 rebounds. Isaiah Canaan (17 points) joined him in draining 4 triples, and although he ended the night 5-15 from the field, a lot of those misses came late when the game was out of reach; it was generally a good performance from Lil’ Sip.

Sadly, the Sixers couldn’t sustain any measure of competent play, as Charlotte quickly regrouped with a 13-0 run of their own over just less than 2 minutes. Walker scored 8 points during that stretch and the rout was back on.

Philadelphia will be back in action Friday night against the Heat, but with there being virtually no silver linings in these losses of late, it’s getting harder and harder to deal with these games recently. The 2016 draft can’t come soon enough.