The Philadelphia 76ers were certainly challenged in Buzz City despite facing a Charlotte Hornets team that was shorthanded. The Hornets were missing the likes of LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, and others, but they gave the Sixers a battle in both games inside The Hive.
Nonetheless, the Sixers were still able to come out with wins in both games including a 110-106 win on Wednesday night. Joel Embiid led the way with 31 points and eight rebounds, but they also got a big performance out of Seth Curry who had 23 points, eight assists, and four rebounds.
Curry had a big third quarter as he had 10 points while knocking down a couple of triples to get the job down for the win.
“I think the second half, we changed the offense a little bit,” said Curry. “I thought we got a little bit stagnant and we were pressing. We were able to get into transition and I was able to come off some ball screens as well as being able to make some plays and there were more opportunities for me to score tonight.”
The big second-half effort was able to help the Sixers earn a 3-1 road trip. It looked tough on the trip as they fell to the Boston Celtics to open the trip and they were down double digits in the fourth to the Atlanta Hawks before rallying, but this was a successful trip.
“I’ll take it, and that’s the point,” said coach Doc Rivers. “Put them in the win column, keep growing, keep getting better. Know that you’re not a perfect team yet, nor will you ever be, but just keep getting better. Our guys have the want-to attitude to keep improving. We’re going to keep doing that but while we’re doing that let’s keep winning games.”
Outside of Embiid and Curry doing their thing on the offensive end, the Sixers also got 16 points and six rebounds out of Tobias Harris and Danny Green knocked down a big triple in the fourth quarter. The Sixers have been able to rely on a lot of different players on this trip and now they will carry a 3-game winning streak back home.
“Anytime you can go on the road and get wins, you’ll take them,” said Harris. “Last game and tonight, we did a good job in the fourth quarter. We made big shots. Joel had a big 3 and Danny had a big 3 that really hurt their momentum. Those are all big plays that we need, and guys stepped up in a big way.”
The Sixers will return home on Thursday, but they will have to take on one of the best teams in the league in the Utah Jazz. It does not get easier for Rivers and his team despite two straight wins over the Hornets.
“It’s tough to beat the same team twice no matter what the situation is,” said Rivers. “We did that. I thought we just hung in there. I thought there were times where we could’ve pulled away and there was a turnover or a missed defensive assignment here or there, but overall, I’ll take the win. We’ve got one tomorrow.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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