3 observations after Sixers explode for season-high 144 points, beat Hornets

How's that for a response?

After falling to a dismal loss Thursday in Detroit, the Sixers rebounded Saturday afternoon by crushing the Hornets at home.

The team snapped a three-game skid and improved to 47-30 with a 144-114 win at Wells Fargo Center.

Joel Embiid posted 29 points on 12-for-16 shooting, 14 rebounds and six assists. 

Tobias Harris scored 23 points and Tyrese Maxey had 19. James Harden recorded 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting, 13 assists and eight rebounds. 

With five games to go, the Sixers will start a three-game road trip Sunday night in Cleveland. Here are observations on their blowout win over the Hornets:

Open-floor fun

Sixers head coach Doc Rivers stressed before the game that his team needed to improve its pace and that better, more consistent tempo would be helpful for Harden.

The signs on that front Saturday were undeniably positive. Matisse Thybulle scored the Sixers’ first points on a fast-break dunk. And, though it wasn’t a byproduct of tremendous speed or an especially urgent approach, Harden got a first-quarter floater to fall after Harris grabbed a defensive rebound and the Sixers purposefully pushed the ball ahead. 

Harris hit three long-range jumpers within the first six minutes, the last of which gave the Sixers an 18-13 lead. Brisk pace and transition opportunities in general benefited Harris last year alongside Ben Simmons. With Harden, he’s been asked to fire more half-court, catch-and-shoot jumpers and grown more comfortable at that role over the last few weeks. His nine three-point attempts Saturday set a new season high. 

“Continuing to grow day by day with how we’re playing," Harris said. “But just being shot-ready and being able to shoot quicker and take those type of looks, and evaluating how the defense is playing now. That was the biggest thing to adapt to, playing more off the ball.

“Obviously tonight looks really good, but the last bunch of games I think I’ve been in a really good rhythm of shooting the basketball and being confident, letting it fly and picking my spots better on the floor. I thought it was a great night personally, but even a better night for us as a team.”

Harden casually turned the ball over attempting to loft a pass into Embiid at the high post against a Charlotte zone possession, but his decision-making was otherwise solid early. Though he took a pass-first approach, that mostly made sense given Embiid’s potency as a roller and the Hornets’ frequent defensive scrambling. Harden played the game’s first 10 minutes and 55 seconds with Embiid. 

The Sixers briefly used Maxey with four bench players at the start of the second quarter before inserting Harris. The 29-year-old forward then went into No. 1 option mode, hitting back-to-back turnaround post jumpers to put the Sixers ahead 36-28.

We'll see what Rivers settles on, but Maxey-Harris and Embiid-Harden duos are promising when Harris accepts catch-and-shoot looks and also creates good shots for himself while the Sixers' All-Stars are off the floor. 

The Sixers’ pace was fantastic as they pulled away from the Hornets in a 45-point third quarter. Harden was part of the fun, scoring a transition layup and three-pointer, but Maxey starred. After a quiet first half in which he managed just two points, Maxey recorded 11 over the first seven minutes of the third. His speed is a serious weapon and the Sixers look so much more dangerous when the Kentucky product sprints ahead of the pack. 

“I’m not the fastest guy," Harden said, “so I try to advance the ball as much as I can and allow Tyrese, Tobias and our playmakers to push the tempo a little bit more. I think we did that. We put pressure on the paint and because of that, we got open shots. ... We’ve got to just do more of that consistently.”

Embiid starts off rolling 

Unlike the Sixers’ past three opponents, the Hornets initially opted against switching on Harden-Embiid pick-and-rolls.

Instead, with Mason Plumlee and Montrezl Harrell playing drop coverage, the Sixers had regular chances to get Embiid rolling downhill. He capitalized in one instance with a nice drop-off dish to Georges Niang for a layup. 

Of course, Embiid was also his usual self as a scorer and rebounder. He had 19 points and 11 boards by halftime. Throughout the afternoon, he bullied smaller defenders on switches and punished defensive breakdowns. 

Rivers liked Embiid's passing performance and also appreciated that the five-time All-Star isn't concerned with amassing late-season numbers for the sake of his MVP case.

“He was great," Rivers said. “If we could’ve just caught a ball tonight … we counted three balls (that went) right between guys’ hands. Joel could’ve had a big assist night.

“Listen, I really don’t get on this, but I really believe he should be the MVP. Tonight before the game I said, ‘Hey, man, just keep playing.’ And he said, ‘Coach, I just want to win. I’m going to let it come to me.’ I almost wanted to tell him to try to get 50 or whatever, win the scoring title. And he said, ‘Only if it comes to me. That’s the only way I want to win anything.’ I thought that was a really cool answer, and it also just shows where he’s at as a player.”

The Sixers had several clear miscommunications Saturday, though both Embiid and Harden made obvious efforts to work through issues as soon as possible. Following a botched pick-and-roll coverage involving Thybulle and Harris that led to two Miles Bridges free throws, Harden tried to get everyone on the same page during Bridges' foul shots. 

Shortly after catching the ball at the nail and yelling at Thybulle about not being in the right spot, Embiid wrapped his arm around the third-year wing and talked things over as the two headed to the bench for a timeout. The team has plenty to clean up before the playoffs, but there’s nothing wrong with directly addressing problems; certainly better than pretending everything’s fine. 

Thybulle (12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, three steals) played a great third quarter that included two corner threes. He tried for a third after surprising the Hornets with a steal in the backcourt. While the shot came up short, Thybulle chased down his miss and saved the Sixers a possession, which the home fans loved. 

Sixers shrug off early turnovers 

The Sixers helped Charlotte out often in the first half. Seventeen minutes into the game, the Sixers had 10 turnovers and the Hornets had just two.

Most of the giveaways were unforced. Niang committed two early in the second quarter, throwing a telegraphed pass and stepping out of bounds when he caught the ball. Embiid tried to perfectly place a high-low feed to Thybulle and couldn’t pull it off. Back-to-back turnovers by Harden and Harris fueled Charlotte fast breaks, and an Isaiah Thomas three-pointer gave the Hornets 10 straight points immediately after they fell behind by 10. 

Thanks in part to three-pointers from Embiid and Harden, the Sixers entered halftime with a five-point lead. That advantage kept ballooning during a third quarter in which confidence seemed contagious and just about every Sixers decision panned out. 

For the game, the Sixers shot 60.9 percent from the field, made 21 of 43 threes (48.8 percent), and set a new season high for points. DeAndre Jordan went a flawless 4 for 4 from the floor, including three alley-oop dunks courtesy of Harris. 

“I look at it as we know how good we can be," Embiid said. “It’s all about doing it every single night. I had a lot of fun playing tonight, and that’s the way we should be playing every night — just sharing the ball, moving, playing with pace, pushing the ball in transition. Our defense was pretty good. We shouldn’t be doing this after a bad loss; we should do it every night.”