James Harden, Sixers Credit Pace for Blowout Win vs. Hornets

The Philadelphia 76ers haven't been playing their best version of basketball lately. After playing a solid three quarters against the Phoenix Suns on the road

The Philadelphia 76ers haven't been playing their best version of basketball lately. After playing a solid three quarters against the Phoenix Suns on the road last Sunday, a fourth-quarter collapse led the Sixers into a ten-point defeat.

Two nights later, it was a similar story against the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite having control of the game until crunch time, the 76ers still lost control during the minutes that matter the most and fell short for their second-straight loss.

A matchup against the Detroit Pistons looked like an easy one on paper, but another fourth quarter filled with mistakes and sloppy play allowed the young and scrappy Pistons to upset the Sixers and send them back to Philly with their third-straight loss.

The road didn't much easier for the Sixers, considering they were set to host the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday. The last time the Sixers and the Hornets met for a matchup, Charlotte got the best of Philly and snapped a long 16-game win streak that the Sixers had put together.

Despite being red-hot and winning eight of their last ten games, the Hornets simply didn't have what it takes to stop the Sixers when the ball is flowing ideally.

Pace for the Win

"I just thought all game our pace was good," said Sixers coach Doc Rivers. "That's what we put emphasis on. We got the ball up the floor a lot earlier. A lot of advance passes. And then playing the second side of the floor. I thought the first half, although we did play with great pace, we played on half the floor. I thought the second half, we got the ball to the opposite side."

Lately, the Sixers have relied heavily on their two stars, Joel Embiid and James Harden, to mass-produce for the offense. On Saturday, everybody got a piece of the offense as James Harden played a stellar game as a facilitator.

"I think our pace [is why we had success]," said Harden after the game. "I'm not the fastest guy, so I try to advance the ball as much as I can. Tyrese [Maxey] and Tobias [Harris] are playmakers to push the tempo a little bit more. I think we did that. Great playmaking in the paint, and because of that, we got open shots. We got the shots that we wanted. We just have to do more of that consistently."

The Sixers led throughout the first half and entered halftime with a five-point lead. While they controlled the matchup, for the most part, the Sixers didn't find a ton of separation through the first two quarters.

In the third quarter, that wasn't the case. With a 45-point rally and holding the Hornets to just 27 points, the Sixers started to dominate. After leading by nearly 30 points before the third quarter, the Sixers pulled most of their starting lineup as they eventually cruised past the Hornets with a 144-114 victory.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.