NBA: Charlotte Hornets VS Philadelphia 76ers Pick and Predictions 12/11/2022

Game: 6:10 PM ET,  Sunday, December 11th, 2022

Venue: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

TV:  NBA League Pass

Hornets: 7-19, 13th place Eastern Conference

76ers: 13-12, 6th place Eastern Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  76ers -10.5, O/U 220

PointsBet: Point Spread:  76ers -10.5, O/U 220

Fanduel: Point Spread: 76ers -10.5, O/U 219.5

Hornets: SF Jalen McDaniels, PF PJ Washington, C Mason Plumlee, PG Terry Rozier, SG Kelly Oubre Jr

76ers: SF Tobias Harris, PF PJ Tucker, C Joel Embiid, PG James Harden, SG De’Anthony Melton

An Eastern Conference matchup between the haves and have nots.  The Philadelphia 76ers may not be the best team in the East at the moment… but they have a loaded roster and are expected to be in the postseason and expected to be a very hard out for anybody they face there.  The Sixers have C Joel Embiid, SG James Harden, SF Tobias Harris, SG De’Anthony Melton, PG Tyrese Maxey,.. That is a lot.  The Charlotte Hornets were a mid-level team last season and then they completely bungled the draft.  The history of the Hornets is a mountain of losing with little bumps of winning. The Hornets had the 10th and 12th picks of last season’s draft.. They drafted C/PF Jalen Duran with the 10th pick and immediately traded him away in an odd mix of future considerations and skeezy potential picks… they then drafted C Mark Williams with the 12th pick.  Williams played Center at Duke and is certainly a big kid, but he fits the old style mode of outdated Center in the NBA… back to the basket, not terribly skilled off the blocks. It so far has not made a dent and the team is still starting Mason Plumlee… a terrible option.  The Hornets spent last season as the exciting team to watch PG LaMelo Ball.. he is now Out indefinitely on the injured list.  The Hornets spent last season with leading scorer PF Miles Bridges in the fold… he got arrested in the offseason for domestic abuse and if the charges hold to a conviction… will simply never play in the NBA again.  The Hornets also spent the last several seasons with SF Gordon Hayward coming in and out of the lineup to great effect… Gordon is now Out Indefinitely on the injured list.  The Hornets truly have nothing and are sinking like a lead balloon.

The Charlotte Hornets are on a 4-game losing streak and they should expect lots more losses until they get at least LaMelo Ball back from injury… That day could be months from now. The emptiness of the roster does allow them to start dreaming of winning the draft lottery.. We shall see.  In their last game they lost to the New York Knicks 121 - 102.  They got 24 points from PG Terry Rozier and 22 points from SG Kelly Oubre Jr.. but those were points from guys who are playing out of position in order to fill the void of the actual starters who could not be there. SF Jalen McDaniels again put up a terrible performance with only 4 points in 21 minutes… Jalen is looking more like a guy who should be sent to the G-League instead of starting in the NBA. C Mason Plumlee was outright awful in 29 minutes as the starting Center 13, 9, and 3 is meaningless unless you can play any actual defense.

The Philadelphia 76ers last beat the Los Angeles Lakers 133-122… but the final score does not tell the ultimate story.  The Sixers and Lakers played each other pretty close to the hip throughout the first half with the Sixers going into halftime only up by 3 points… but early foul trouble for the Lakers C Anthony Davis led to him taking a seat for most of the 3rd quarter which enabled the Sixers to take a 15 point lead… the held that lead through a furious 4th quarter where the Lakers chipped away at them… then with just 2 minutes left to play a dozen point lead the Sixers fans started to leave… the Sixers started to relax… and Sixers Head Coach Doc Rivers displayed the end of game weakness that has plagued him for his whole coaching career.  In the last 90 seconds the Lakers scored, forced a turnover, scored, forced a turnover etc etc… until the game tied and was sent to overtime.  Sixers fans had left minutes ago only to hear an overtime was necessary on their car radios.  Doc’s problem is he left PF PJ Tucker and C Joel Embiid in the game when all he needed was a squadron of ball handlers to dribble out the clock. Instead he got a harvest of turnovers and bad decisions.  In overtime the Sixers re-established control and cruised to the win… but they should always remember that they cam a missed free throw away from losing in regulation.

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CHA: 7-19, 12-12-2 ATS, 13-12-1 O/U, 3-10 in road games.

PHI: 13-12, 14-11 ATS, 12-13 O/U, 8-5 in home games.

The Hornets are 27tgh in scoring with 109.3 points per game, 6th in rebounds with 45.3 per game, 13th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7, and 14th in blocked shots with 4.8 per game.

The Sixers are 24th in scoring with 109.9 per game, 29th in rebounds with 40 per game, 23rd in AST/To ratio with 1.6, 19th in blocked shots with 4.6 per game.

Our prediction for Sunday, December 11th is…. Sixers 119 - Hornets 99

Bet on the Sixers.  They are better at every single position on the floor… AND Embiid will get to work on his numbers against… Mason Plumlee?!!!  Bet on the Sixers.

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(will update)

Hornets: SG/PG Terry Rozier.  Terry is a quality player who is a bit undersized.  He has been the focal point of this team and he has been an afterthought.  With LaMelo Ball OUT and Miles Bridges GONE and Gordon Hayward OUT… Terry will need to get 30+ points in any game they intend to win… he hasn't gotten 30 in a long while.

76ers: C Joel Embiid.  Joel was both the best and the worst part of the Sixers during the Lakers game.  He was the rock in the middle that got the big lead… and he was fully embarrassed as he was at the center of most of the turnovers that led to the Laker comeback in regulation.  He will get the chance to simply score and score and score against the Hornets as they have no one healthy on the roster that can even look him eye to eye let alone stop him.

Hornets: Steve “I got another bad job in the NBA” Clifford

Sixers: Doc “I have pants older than you” Rivers