PREMIUM
Rogers' 10* Coach's Clinic >> 53-28-3 L84 NBA Sides! 10-3 L13!
(NBA) Philadelphia vs. Charlotte,
Point Spread: -8.00 | -110.00 Charlotte (Home)
Result: Loss
Point Spread: -8.00 | -110.00 Charlotte (Home)
Result: Loss
The set-up: The 20-34 Philadelphia 76ers' have a logjam at the center position, although the best of the bunch, Joel Embiid, has a more serious injury than originally thought. Then there is Jahil Okafor, who was held out of Philly's last game, as the team was contemplating a trade. The 76ers head to Charlotte to take on the 24-30 Hornets, who just made a move of their own at the center spot, trading away Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes to Milwaukee in exchange for Miles Plumlee (you tell me why?).
Philadelphia: The biggest recent news out of Philly is not that team team has reached the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2012-13 season but that GM Bryan Colangelo revealed on Saturday that Embiid (20.2 & 7.8) is dealing with a small meniscus tear in addition to the bone bruise that has kept him out of the lineup since Jan. 27. "The MRI revealed obviously, what we thought it to be: a bone bruise," Colangelo told reporters. "There was also the recognition that there was a very minor meniscal tear. But it was not thought to be acute, and it was not thought to be the source of the pain, inflammation or symptoms. That is the case." Embiid is unlikely to see action until after the All-Star break, at the earliest.Okafor was held out Saturday (trade?), leaving Nerlens Noel and Richaun Holmes to hold down the center spot. However, the 76ers ended Miami's 13-game winning streak with a 117-109 victory, on the heels of pulling out a 112-111 win at Orlando on Thursday.
Charlotte: The Hornets have lost nine of their last 10 and the team's promising 8-3 start to the 2016-17 season is a distant memory. All that said, despite going 4-14 since a Jan. 4 win over Oklahoma City, the Hornets trail eighth-place Detroit by only a single game in the Eastern Conference standings. Kemba Walker (22.3-4.1-5.4) is headed to his first All Star game but is in the midst of a shooting slump, connecting on only 28.4 percent from the floor in Charlotte's five February games. Backcourt partner Nicolas Batum (15.1-7.2-6.1) has tried to pick up the slack with 25 points and eight assists on Saturday. However, he had nothing good to say about the team's performance after the contest. "We've just got to go out there and compete and win games, that's it," Batum told reporters. "Every meeting we talk about it, we know how to do it, it's our job. Our job is to go out there and win games, compete and make our fans proud and make the city proud. That's what we've got to do. ... We can't keep losing games and say OK we're going to be fine." Batum is right. The Hornets are not greater than the sum of their parts.
The pick: The 76ers roll into Charlotte off back-to-back wins but without their best player and with trade rumors swirling. As for the Hornets, despite the team's poor play in 2017, a playoff spot is still there for the taking. The 76ers won 102-93 over the Hornets back on Jan. 13 in Philly but that victory snapped a six-game losing streak for t Shes in this series. Hornets repay the favor here at home. Charlotte is a 10* play.
Philadelphia: The biggest recent news out of Philly is not that team team has reached the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2012-13 season but that GM Bryan Colangelo revealed on Saturday that Embiid (20.2 & 7.8) is dealing with a small meniscus tear in addition to the bone bruise that has kept him out of the lineup since Jan. 27. "The MRI revealed obviously, what we thought it to be: a bone bruise," Colangelo told reporters. "There was also the recognition that there was a very minor meniscal tear. But it was not thought to be acute, and it was not thought to be the source of the pain, inflammation or symptoms. That is the case." Embiid is unlikely to see action until after the All-Star break, at the earliest.Okafor was held out Saturday (trade?), leaving Nerlens Noel and Richaun Holmes to hold down the center spot. However, the 76ers ended Miami's 13-game winning streak with a 117-109 victory, on the heels of pulling out a 112-111 win at Orlando on Thursday.
Charlotte: The Hornets have lost nine of their last 10 and the team's promising 8-3 start to the 2016-17 season is a distant memory. All that said, despite going 4-14 since a Jan. 4 win over Oklahoma City, the Hornets trail eighth-place Detroit by only a single game in the Eastern Conference standings. Kemba Walker (22.3-4.1-5.4) is headed to his first All Star game but is in the midst of a shooting slump, connecting on only 28.4 percent from the floor in Charlotte's five February games. Backcourt partner Nicolas Batum (15.1-7.2-6.1) has tried to pick up the slack with 25 points and eight assists on Saturday. However, he had nothing good to say about the team's performance after the contest. "We've just got to go out there and compete and win games, that's it," Batum told reporters. "Every meeting we talk about it, we know how to do it, it's our job. Our job is to go out there and win games, compete and make our fans proud and make the city proud. That's what we've got to do. ... We can't keep losing games and say OK we're going to be fine." Batum is right. The Hornets are not greater than the sum of their parts.
The pick: The 76ers roll into Charlotte off back-to-back wins but without their best player and with trade rumors swirling. As for the Hornets, despite the team's poor play in 2017, a playoff spot is still there for the taking. The 76ers won 102-93 over the Hornets back on Jan. 13 in Philly but that victory snapped a six-game losing streak for t Shes in this series. Hornets repay the favor here at home. Charlotte is a 10* play.
