Updated Saturday, 7:18 p.m.
The Sixers’ (2-3) defensive woes have been an early storyline and they don’t face an easy assignment tonight.
Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets (3-3) come to town fresh off hanging 135 points on the Bulls Friday night. The Hornets are averaging 116 points, good for 10th in the league.
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They’re led by (the pending free agent, wink wink) Walker who’s off to a hot start, averaging 30.8 points. Walker is a multi-level scorer. He’s able to get to the lane, can hit from mid-range and has become a significantly better three-point shooter over the course of his career. This season, he’s shooting 45 percent on almost 11 attempts from three a game.
• The presence of Joel Embiid should help slow down Walker and company.
Embiid will play in Saturday's game after rolling his left ankle at the end of practice Friday. After a pregame workout to test his ankle, Embiid was cleared to play. Brett Brown told reporters pregame that Embiid's injury was not as bad as he originally expected. Embiid is having an MVP-like start to his season, averaging 29.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.4 blocks.
There was speculation that veteran Wilson Chandler would make his Sixers debut Saturday, but the veteran combo forward will be out vs. the Hornets. The 31-year-old is nursing a hamstring strain suffered back on Sept. 28 during the Sixers’ first preseason game against Melbourne United.
NBA
The team acquired Chandler in a trade with Denver this past offseason. The hope is he’ll provide toughness, a defensive presence and also chip in a little offensively off the bench. They could certainly use all of those things right now.
• While Charlotte has been a strong offensive team, they play at pretty methodical pace, coming in at 24th in the NBA. With Ben Simmons leading Brown’s offensive attack, the Sixers always look to push the tempo. They’ve played at the seventh-highest pace in the league and that’s with Simmons missing 1¾ games.
The Sixers need to get stops and get out and run the Hornets out of the building.
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia (Pregame Live starts at 7 p.m.)
Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
Roster
Jerryd Bayless, G, 6-3/210, No. 0
Jonah Bolden, F, 6-10, 220, No. 43
Wilson Chandler, F, 6-9/225, No. 22
Robert Covington, F, 6-9/225, No. 33
Joel Embiid, C, 7-0/260, No. 21
Markelle Fultz, G, 6-4/200, No. 20
* Demetrius Jackson, G, 6-1/200, No. 11
Amir Johnson, F/C, 6-9/240, No. 5
Furkan Korkmaz, G/F, 6-7/185, No. 30
T.J. McConnell, G, 6-2/190, No. 12
* Shake Milton, G, 6-6/205, No. 18
Mike Muscala, F/C, 6-11/240, No. 31
JJ Redick, G 6-4/195, No. 17 13
Dario Saric, F, 6-10/250, No. 9
Landry Shamet, G, 6-5/190, No. 23
Ben Simmons, G/F, 6-10/230, No. 25
Zhaire Smith, G, 6-4/200, No. 8
* Two-way player
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