The Philadelphia 76ers are in Charlotte on Monday night to take on the Hornets, and as the Sixers season has gone so far, the team will be missing multiple players, including Joel Embiid and Jared McCain. McCain suffered a torn meniscus injury on Friday night against the Pacers, which will keep him out for quite some time, while Embiid suffered a sinus fracture in the same game. For the Sixers, these couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Sixers game information
Who: Philadelphia 76ers (7-16) at Charlotte Hornets (7-18)
When: 7 pm EST
Where: Spectrum Center, Charlotte NC
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBA League Pass, Bally Sports South & Southeast
Latest on the Sixers
The Sixers just can’t seem to catch a break this season when it comes to injuries. With Embiid and Paul George starting off the season, missing games, then Maxey getting hurt, and back to Embiid and George, it was getting to be a bit much. After that, you’ve had Andre Drummond, Adem Bona, and Caleb Martin, the latter two who are still out for tonight’s game. Finally, just as things were starting to come together, Embiid and McCain both suffered injuries that will keep them out for the foreseeable future. At some point, enough is enough.
With Embiid back and looking more like himself in his return against Chicago, which led directly up to the Pacers game, the thought was that the team would be able to go on a run. George was looking more like himself after the early season knee issues, McCain was rookie of the month and Maxey, despite his shooting woes was doing well. Then Friday night against the Pacers comes and they lose two of their most important pieces. The hits keep coming for the team this year.
Maxey and George are going to have to really step up their game if the Sixers are going to get some wins over the next couple of weeks. Maxey is going to have to resolve his poor shooting, and it has to start tonight, despite having to be the focal point of the offense going forward. George is going to have to be facilitating to get Maxey open for better shots while controlling his own game in order to support the Sixers young star. Without Adem Bona and Caleb Martin, the team will need more from players like KLJ Martin, Andre Drummond, and Kelly Oubre Jr. It’s going to make for an interesting few weeks.
Latest on the Hornets
The Hornets are coming in having lost nine of their last ten games, including to the Sixers 110-104 back on December 3rd. The Hornets are facing their own injury woes as they’re without star LaMelo Ball as well as Tre Mann and and Grant Williams who’s out for the year with an ACL injury. The game will be a battle for two teams that sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
Without their injured players, especially their leader Ball, the Hornets will have to rely on Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller to carry the load going forward. The team is dealing with injuries throughout the early parts of the season, and they’ll see Ball return soon, as he was initially listed as questionable for tonight’s game. Things have been going about as well for the Hornets as they have for the Sixers, and that’s not good.
What to watch for tonight
With the Sixers next two games against the Hornets and both teams depleted by injuries, it may give the team some time to work on how they’ll go forward as they await word on how long center Joel Embiid will be out for. Figuring that they’re off again until the Friday night game against the Hornets, realistically Embiid could return the following week for the Christmas matchup against the Celtics. It all remains to be seen based on the evaluation this week of his sinus fracture.
For tonight, the team has to get Maxey and George on the same page while utilizing some of the younger players that have seen increasing time over the last few games. Kelly Oubre Jr. who can shoulder quite a bit of the scoring load will surely be looked at to provide some quality minutes on both sides of the ball while KJ Martina and Ricky Council IV should see extended time providing depth at both ends of the floor.
The time for Martin and Council to shine starts tonight and while both have shown growth this season, the increased minutes and quality amount of time on the floor could be beneficial to both the young players and the team. Head Coach Nick Nurse is going to have to be at his best with the depleted roster as the team will face some tough opponents over the next few weeks and the time to get the team together is now against the Hornets.
Prediction
Sixers 103 – Hornets 100
