The Sixers might be bad, but darn if they aren't interesting and/or entertaining. We may be at the bottom, but everything is looking up and gosh darnit theres a PLAN! Now the Hornets? Ugh. Hornet's fans probably wish they could swap to the Sixers. After bottom out with 7 wins in the lockout shortened 2011-12 season, the Hornets (nee Bobcats) finally made it back to the postseason last year, going 43-39 and securing the 7th seed behind Big Al Jefferson and a budding Kemba Walker. The Bobnets were swept in the first round by the Miami Heat (Big Al went down in the 1st quarter of the first game – what could have been?), but there was undoubtly optimism surrounding this team. In a weak Eastern Conference, it felt like the Horncats might be just a single bold move away from perhaps a playoff series on their homecourt.
So MJ went and got himself some Lance Stephenson, and WOW THAT WAS A BAD IDEA. The Hornets are terrible this year, debatably as bad if not worse than the Sixers. Lance has been a complete bust, having regressed from shooting 49%/35% from the field/3pt last year with the Pacers to 38% and 15% (!!!) this year. Perhaps even more than his actual play, Lance's infamous shenanigans have clearly hurt the Hornets chemistry and he's been benched down the stretch of multiple games this year. His teammates love him so much that, in a recent game against the Celtics, he caught a nice cheapshot from Rondo in the throat and got ZERO backup from his teammates. Statistically, the whole Hornets team has regressed from last year and they find themselves sitting at 6-19, good for 12th place in the East and 3.5 games ahead of the Sixers. When free agents who were signed over the summer became available for trade last week, it was widely believed he would be the first man to be moved, but sounds like now he's staying put simply because the offers the Hornets are getting for this guy are (surprise!) horrible.
So this is all great news for Sixers fans because we wouldn't mind a few more wins, and nothing spells win better than team-in-dysfunctional-downward-death-spiral! Except, alas, Lance isn't playing tonight due to a groin injury, and one can only believe that makes the Hornets a better squad. Still, this is one of the teams that the Sixers can win against, and they need to show up tonight. After that horrible let down game against the Celtics on Monday, I'm not too worried about the Sixers showing up tonight. Buckle in, could be a fun night for Sixers fans.
Game Notes:
- The Hornets have lost 14 of their last 16 games and are currently on a 4 game losing streak.
- The Sixers are coming off perhaps one of their worst losses of the season, a shellacking delivered by a crap Boston Celtics squad. That game has letdown written all over it, as it came 2 nights after that OT gut punch game against the Grizzlies. Expect the Sixers to come out with some pep in their step tonight, looking to avenge that poor showing against a weak Hornets squad.
- The Sixers are coming off 3-days off, only the third time they have had three days off in a row this whole season. Hopefully this helps Tony Wroten and KJ McDaniels, both of whom are coming off injuries and Brett Brown alluded to the fact that they might be having trouble reaclimating to being back in the lineup. On the other hand … Sixers are 0-2 coming off 3 days of rest, including the Game-Against-The-Mavs-Of-Which-We-Do-Not-Speak.
Projected Lineups:
Sixers
PG Michael Carter-Williams
SG Hollis Thompson
SF Robert Covington
PF Luc Mbah a Moute
C Nerlens Noel
Hornets
PG Kemba Walker
SG Gerald Henderson
SF Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
PF Cody Zeller
C Al Jefferson
Injuries: Sixers: Furkan Aldemir (Doubtful, foot), Joel Embiid (Out, foot), Jason Richardson (Out, crypt keeping).
Hornets: Lance Stephenson (Out, groin).
Prediction: The Sixers and Hornets are bad on offense (30th and 27th, respectively, in offensive rating), but the Hornets have appreciably worse defense than the Sixers (13th and 24th in D-rating). I think the young 76ers smell blood tonight and take this one 95-88.
