Instant observations: Sixers get much-needed win over Hornets

The Sixers let a banged-up Hornets team hang around but ultimately pulled away in the fourth quarter, earning a 109-98 win to close out the week.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— Tyrese Maxey wasn’t exactly having a hard time appealing to the Philadelphia faithful, but he has added some toughness points in recent weeks that will heighten the love. After playing through a concussion (well, one that wasn’t diagnosed yet) against Dallas, Maxey upped the ante against the Hornets. When Brandon Miller hit him with a fierce elbow and picked up a Flagrant 2, Maxey was put on the jumbotron with his nose stuffed to stop the bleeding. An image to savor:

Two days after he found it difficult to get a whistle in Milwaukee, Maxey put the onus on the officials to show him some respect. Long before Miller got himself tossed, Maxey earned his first free throws by barreling into Miller in transition, delivering a shoulder into his chest to initiate contact. It was the start of a habit he kept up for the entire first half, and it sustained him as he waited for his shots to start falling.

The Hornets are not the Bucks, but that sort of response is why Maxey has continued to ascend when most other young players stall out. He is not without weaknesses in year four, but you can see him working on them in real time. Maxey’s defense, for example, has been a good bit better in recent weeks. And when he got a rough whistle in one game for no good reason, he didn’t use it as an excuse to sulk, but as an opportunity to alter his approach.

Charlotte tried their best to force it out of Maxey’s hands in the second half, and I thought he was a bit too quick to give the ball up and/or shy away from attacking the paint. Maxey had some gorgeous pull-up threes, including one out of a crossover that put poor Nick Smith on his highlight reel:

Charlotte’s approach (mostly) succeeded at taking him out of his game in the second half, putting the ball in the hands of teammates who struggled to beat four-on-threes. But he hit some important shots when it mattered, ultimately dragging this group over the line for a win. Take what you can get.

— Speaking of important shots when it mattered, Kelly Oubre was arguably their best hope for scoring in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. And I promise I mean this in the best way possible: Oubre’s goldfish approach is a legitimate asset in the fourth quarter. It does not matter if he has struggled for two quarters, it doesn’t matter if his threes aren’t dropping, he is going to attack as if he is 15/15 and in the midst of an all-time heater. You need role players like that to win big games.

The Sixers were fortunate to get what I would classify as an Oubre revenge half against his former team because Philly sputtered through a lot of this first half on offense. It was an excellent example of everything Oubre can do at his best, with explosive cutting and a bit of midrange shotmaking sustaining Philadelphia’s offense. We have some laughs about all the missed dunks from Oubre this season, which is the cost of trying to dunk on people every single night, but his combination of will and athleticism makes for some awesome highlights at the rim.

If this guy could get threes to drop, he would be a legitimately tough cover for opposing defenses right now. Unfortunately for Oubre and the Sixers, his shooting is about as good as Nic Batum’s has been lately. Which is to say, not very. And despite the lack of a jumper against Charlotte, Oubre managed to put together a rock-solid game as an attacker, providing Maxey with the sidekick he needed.

— I’ve been dying for some more curveballs from Nick Nurse recently, a little something to shake up the rotation and get this team rolling in the right direction. I’m not sure if three-guard lineups accomplish that over the long haul, but they were certainly useful on Saturday night, giving the Sixers some real tempo on offense.

Cam Payne was a massive part of that, and he continues to make his case for a regular role even when the full roster is healthy (if that ever happens). Any guy who can regularly make threes — whether they’re pull-up shots or catch-and-shoot looks — has to play for this group, and Payne is dangerous enough as a downhill threat that he can bend defenses a bit when he gets rolling. The Hornets found that out the hard way in Saturday’s first half, with Payne hitting an above-the-break three and a sidestep three to set up a late-quarter drive, when he beat a hot closeout to get to the rim for an easy layup.

Having three guards who can shoot, dribble, and make decent-to-great decisions with the ball smooths out a lot of things on offense, and the Sixers’ offensive process was at its best when those three shared the floor. When you move the ball, take open shots, and force the other team into repeated rotations, good things will eventually come.

Putting Payne on the floor with Maxey and Lowry has some real downside on defense, though Lowry’s intelligence allows them to put out some fires before they develop. And though I think Payne has little chance against most guys in individual matchups, he does actually care on that end of the floor. In the first half, he had a box out that was better than 90 percent of box outs from Philly’s bigs this season. Most people will probably gloss over that, but I see you, Cam!

— Buddy Hield didn’t light it up from three, but he offered the Sixers critical scoring off of the bench in the second half of this game. He has been fighting it at the rim as hard as he has from deep, and after he got some jumpers to fall, Hield got busy as a driver for important buckets at the rim.

The Bad

— I greatly appreciate Kyle Lowry for what he is, rather than what he isn’t, and I do understand that he’s overtaxed in his current role. That being said, you can see the toll of Father Time as he tries to attack opponents off the dribble. Lowry is never a threat to go to the rim or look for his own shot, and good teams are going to prey on that in games that matter. Just give me the odd shot from the paint here or there.

The Ugly

— I feel the need to keep repeating this in recaps and podcasts about the team, but the Sixers are simply not good enough in their current form to ever consider an opponent a walkover. The Charlotte Hornets are beat up and not good and were on the second half of a back-to-back. Did I mention that Brandon Miller also got tossed for a Flagrant 2 foul at the end of the first half? And yet, they found themselves in a tight game with Philly in the fourth quarter. So it goes.

— Thanks to a great transition play in the first half, Cam Payne has more charges taken during his Sixers career than Tobias Harris. Do what you will with that information.

— Mo Bamba picked up a silly foul midway through the fourth quarter and then decided he ought to make it even worse with a technical foul. A play like that is among the many reasons I have little patience for him. Someone would have to come off of the bench and hit a role player over the head with a chair for me to accept a frustration tech in the fourth.

I don’t care how “different” Kai Jones is or isn’t, I would gladly give him a chance just to go the No Bamba route.