Everything has appeared exceedingly easy for Joel Embiid and the Sixers lately.
Embiid recorded 42 points on 18-for-23 shooting and 15 rebounds Saturday night, leading the Sixers to their sixth straight win.
Following a 135-82 victory over the Hornets at Spectrum Center, the Sixers are 18-7.
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The 53-point final margin was the Sixers' largest since 1970.
Embiid obviously did not have to play the fourth quarter. He's still scored at least 30 points in 11 consecutive games, which is a new franchise record. Embiid has surpassed his own 10-game streak from last season.
The 7-17 Hornets were quite shorthanded; Charlotte was down LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward, P.J. Washington, Cody Martin, Mark Williams and Frank Ntilikina.
NBA
The Sixers will return to Philadelphia and begin a three-game homestand on Monday night vs. the Bulls. Here are observations on their massive win in Charlotte:
Embiid outscores Hornets in first quarter
As they’ve done in seemingly every single game the last few weeks, the Sixers called a play for Nicolas Batum to find Embiid inside on their first possession.
The initial look yielded nothing because Brandon Miller got away with a foul on Embiid, but that didn’t stop the six-time All-Star from starting very smoothly. He drained two early jump shots over Nick Richards and that Batum-to-Embiid duck-in action got the desired result soon enough, producing an Embiid lay-in.
He scored the Sixers’ first eight points and posted 18 in the first quarter (along with nine rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal). The Hornets scored 17 points in the opening period.
Embiid had a minor moment of adversity when he was called for his second foul with 5:20 left in the first, but Sixers head coach Nick Nurse kept him in. The reigning MVP did well to continue actively protecting the rim while curbing the “swings” at blocks that Nurse normally wants him to take. He got through the game with no further fouls.
As long as Embiid’s on the floor, buckets tend to flow. After running a pick-and-roll with Tyrese Maxey and catching a pocket pass, Embiid made a couple of calm fakes, paused, and then knocked down a jumper at the nail. With that sort of exceptional fluidity and scoring skill, he often appears equipped with answers to anything.
Maxey rediscovers shooting groove
Maxey was good late in the first quarter and downright excellent throughout the second.
Right after a three-pointer off of a double drag action, Maxey sized up Miles Bridges, shimmied free and canned a jumper over him. Maxey made five second-quarter threes, bouncing back from a 1-for-12 long-range stretch over his last two games. All shooters experience peaks and valleys, but Maxey’s looked a bit more convinced this year that any slumps will be brief and he’s a tremendous shooter at his core.
Maxey (21 points) and Embiid (27) had 48 points as a duo at halftime on 20-for-26 shooting. Charlotte was at 44 points on much worse efficiency (18 for 49 from the floor).
Along with Embiid, Maxey was able to sit out the final quarter. He’s still near the top of the NBA in minutes per game (approximately 37), but it’s nice for the Sixers that Maxey’s minutes have been decreasing recently because they’re earning blowout win after blowout win.
Batum, Sixers bring it on defense
Yet again, it wouldn’t make sense to derive anything deeply meaningful about the Sixers from a matchup against an inferior, undermanned opponent.
Still, even accounting for that context, this was a second straight game where the Sixers did a ton well defensively. Charlotte shot 36.3 percent from the floor and 20 percent from three-point territory.
Batum’s strong effort vs. Terry Rozier was one of the Sixers’ many bright spots. He bothered the 6-foot-1 guard with his length and played aggressive, intelligent defense, intuiting the right situations to pick Rozier up in the backcourt and increase his physicality. Rozier exited early in the third quarter after taking a hit to the nose and did not return. His streak of consecutive 20-point performances ended at seven games; Rozier had just six points Saturday on 3-for-10 shooting.
Batum had also been very effective defensively in the first leg of this Sixers back-to-back against Pistons guard Cade Cunningham.
“He’s a worker,” Nurse said Friday of Batum. “He’s really good at taking that kind of player and denying him the ball. I clearly remember that from (coaching) against him in the past, that he would take our main ball handler and try to limit their touches, take the rhythm out of the game a little bit. So it’s a good addition. Nice, small thing that pays a lot of dividends.”
When Batum exerts that sort of defensive pressure, it’s easier for other Sixers to dart into passing lanes. Simply chewing up clock and trimming the time that opponents have to create something against your half-court defense is valuable, too.
The clichéd “little things” don’t truly matter in 53-point wins, but the Sixers have clearly been pleased with Batum's knack for making subtle, impactful plays.