The Charlotte Hornets will be traveling to the Philadelphia 76ers to play at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday. This will be a game between 2 eastern conference teams. The Hornets are coming off a well-earned back-to-back win against the Milwaukee Bucks, one of the best teams in the east and last year’s champions. They beat them by 8 points (114-106) in their first contest and by 4 points (103-99) in their second meeting, just 2 days ago. Philadelphia on the other hand has been crushing the opposition lately and is looking to add an eighth game to their 7 game winning streak. As far as it goes for regular-season series, the 76ers have been looking dominant in this matchup, taking home 16 straight wins and only taking a loss back in 2016.
A Healthy Hornets
The Hornets have been looking really strong lately, all their players were healthy in their first back-to-back series against the Bucks and looked quite dominant throughout the game. Charlotte’s top scorers Terry Rozier had 28 points, Miles Bridges had 21 points, Lamelo Ball had 19 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 18 points coming off the bench. In their second contest, the Hornets had all but Kelly Oubre, an important part of the team. Despite this, the Hornets still managed to pull off a win, with Terry Rozier scoring 27 points (47 FG%), Lamelo scoring 23 points (42 FG%), Miles Bridges scoring 17 points and Gordon Hayward scoring 14 points, with a 39.6 FG% as a team. The Hornets are an offensive powerhouse. They are 2nd in threes per game at 14.3 and also 2nd in field goal percentage, shooting 37.7% beyond the arc. On the defensive end, the Hornets are 29th as they allow an average of 115.9 points per game. Kelly Oubre Jr. will not be playing in this game against the 76ers as he was placed in protocols Monday and will likely not be playing.
A Dominant 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers are looking even better, coming off a 7 game win streak and beating a team by as much as 21 points, against the wizards a few weeks ago. The 76ers are currently 5th in the Eastern Conference, just 2 wins being the Nets and the Heat. On the Offensive end, the 76ers are 19th in the league, scoring 107.5 points per game. They have top scorers Joel Embiid, scoring an average of 27 points per game and 4.4 assists, Tobias Harris with 18.4 points per game and 3.9 assists, Tyrese Maxey with 16.8 points per game and 4.5 assists, and Seth Curry with 16.3 points per game and 3.9 assists. The 76ers are shooting 35.3% from beyond the arc and are 81.7% from the free-throw line. On the defensive end, Philadelphia is ranked 7th in the league in scoring defense as they allow an average of 105.6 points per contest. They are allowing 34.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc and are grabbing 42.4 rebounds per game. Shake Milton is out for this contest, Tobias Harris is listed as probable and Seth Curry is listed as questionable (ankle).
Final Thoughts
These two teams are looking solid, with almost all players being healthy with a couple of exceptions, this is going to be a tough game. With the Hornets coming off a three-win streak after their back-to-back losses, while the 76ers have won seven straight games. The Hornets are 6-2 against the spread in their last 8 games and the 76ers are 8-2 in their last 10 games. The 76ers have been covering some really big spreads, as much as -13 against the Rockets and as low as +5 against the Nets.
Even though Charlotte is coming off a back-to-back win, they struggle to stop teams from scoring points. This game against the 76ers won’t be any different, as Embiid is going to be an offensive powerhouse. The 76ers will be at home for this game and are better defensively, which should tip the game in their favor. If they can stop the Hornets from scoring, their offense should come easy.
Prediction: Charlotte Hornets spread (5.5), Philadelphia 76ers money line