Embiid's 53 Leads Philly Past Charlotte

Despite keeping it close for most the night, Philly run out to a 131-113 win

Charlotte started the game well, the leaned heavily on veterans Terry Rozier and Kelly Oubre who were hot early. The Hornets were also able to get out in transition, with five 1st quarter steals and some poor Sixers transition defense.  Unfortunately, the bench's offensive struggles led to the lead being cut to just one. 

In the second quarter Philly found their groove, sensibly they fed big man Joel Embiid who had three back to back three point plays to extend the Philly lead. A scoreless 4 minute stretch was broken by a McDaniels layup and some aggressive drives to the rim from Kelly Oubre who had 17 himself in the first half.

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Unfortunately, Charlotte didn't start the second half with the same energy as the first. DeAnthony Melton who was scoreless in the first half erupted for four early threes to help blow the lead up to 22. For the Hornets, it felt like the Sixers had managed to lock in on the half-court actions for Oubre and Rozier. Without their best two scorers being able to generate offense, Charlotte struggled. Thankfully, Melton cooled off and Charlotte clawed back to cut the lead down to 9.

In the 4th Charlotte continued to stay in touching distance, thanks to a lopsided second half free throw advantage in favor of the Hornets. However, due to Charlotte's porous interior defense Embiid continued to eat to a tune of 53 points on 20-32 from the field and 11-11 from the free throw line. Credit to Joel, he was unstoppable. Oubre and Rozier both hit big threes late in the 4th to pull Charlotte within 7.  However, it wasn't enough to every but the result in serious doubt.

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