CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Philadelphia 76ers earned an important 118-114 win over the Charlotte Hornets to begin their 3-game road trip on Saturday to give themselves more space between themselves and the Hornets in the standings. Philadelphia now leads Charlotte by two games and owns the tiebreaker as well.
Joel Embiid had 29 points and six rebounds for Philadelphia, Paul George had 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Tyrese Maxey had 26 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists. VJ Edgecombe added 13 points and five rebounds and Kelly Oubre Jr. added nine points and five rebounds.
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Here are the three biggest takeaways following the win:
Drummond makes a difference in the fourth
Mar 15, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Andre Drummond (1) during warmups against the Portland Trail Blazers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Through three quarters, the Sixers were getting destroyed on the glass as the Hornets were leading the rebounding battle 41-24. Philadelphia was getting stops, but it couldn’t complete those stops as Charlotte was crashing the glass and did a terrific job of coming up with second possessions. Coach Nick Nurse turned to Andre Drummond–the team’s best rebounder–to start the fourth and he gave a big lift. He grabbed a couple of rebounds, blocked a shot, and led the charge for the Sixers to win the rebounding battle 17-11 in the fourth which made the difference with Philadelphia being able to rally.
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“For me, I just try to be as supportive as I can,” Drummond said after the win. “They (the Hornets) shoot a lot of 3s. So, a lot of long rebounds. It’s tough for us to get those, because we’re used to it just kind of falling right in front of us. So it’s some attention to detail things blocking our guy out. Just grabbing those long rebounds.”
George comes up big
Mar 28, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George (8) shoots over Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams (2) during the first quarter at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Westerholt-Imagn Images
When the Hornets built a 15-point lead in the third, the Sixers turned to George to make a big difference. The 9-time All-Star knocked down two triples in the third which kinda calmed the team down a bit and the Sixers followed his lead. His offensive production was important as he continued to lead Philadelphia on a night where it needed a big win. He looked like himself again which is a big help for the Sixers and should be a big worry for the rest of the Eastern Conference.
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“They play so fast,” George said of his run. “I think I’m still trying to get up to game speed and game rhythm and stuff like that. So, I was playing a little faster than I would normally want to play, especially trying to get back into a rhythm. So, it was a couple possessions where I just kind of took my time and keyed in on just getting the bucket, knocking the shot down, but I thought we just got into a good floor balance. Big fella got going again, settled in. I thought the energetic plays from Tyrese, from Kelly, were huge for us. That really swung the momentum, and we kind of just carried that. The bench was phenomenal for us. We just carried that momentum.”
Sixers show resiliency
Mar 28, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) tries to drive past Philadelphia 76ers guard V.J. Edgecombe (77) during the fourth quarter at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Westerholt-Imagn Images
After scoring the first five points of the third to tie the game at 69, the Hornets ripped off a 19-4 run to build an 88-73 lead in the third. The Sixers received big shots from George, Maxey, Edgecombe, and Oubre down the stretch to pick up the win they needed. When considering the fact that the Sixers were welcoming Maxey and Oubre back to the lineup while it was only the second game for George and Embiid, it could have been a bad moment there for Philadelphia. Instead, the Sixers rallied and pulled off the win.
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“I was super worried during that point,” Nurse said of the third quarter. “Again, I think that all these guys just coming back and not having much conditioning and the speed of the game, and I was super worried that we might have a couple of guys that might have gone past their kind of conditioning threshold at that point. I got super worried, but again, I think couple of Paul 3s kind of reignited the group. We had a couple quick subs. Those guys went in and did a nice job of playing hard and giving those guys a little bit of a break.”
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following huge road win over Hornets