What: Charlotte Hornets (1-0) (0-0 away) at Philadelphia 76ers (1-0) (0-0 home)
When: 7:30pm Eastern
Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena; Philadelphia, PA
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
Game Lines: Hornets +6.5, Hornets money line +215, O/U 232.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Grant Williams-out (knee), Josh Green-out (shoulder)
76ers: Justin Edwards-probable (ribs), Paul George-out (knee), Jared McCain-out (thumb), Trendon Watford-out (hamstring)
Everybody involved in this game is going to come in riding a high. The Hornets, as anyone reading this should know, convincingly beat the Brooklyn Nets in their season opener, and just about everyone looked good in the process. It as a 10 out of 10 performance, no notes. That’s got fans hyped about the season, for real this time.
The 76ers have their own magical season opener to be merry about. They went on the road and rallied from a 13 point fourth quarter deficit to take out their bitter rival Boston Celtics. In the process, they got absolutely nothing out of Joel Embiid, but that didn’t matter. Tyrese Maxey dropped 40 and even more excitingly, rookie VJ Edgecombe scored 34 points in his first ever NBA game. That’s the third highest mark all time and the best output by a debutant since Wilt Chamberlain in 1959. Any time you get your name mentioned alongside Wilt, you’re doing something right. And it stings just a little bit knowing that Edgecombe looked like a lock to the Hornets for a lot of the early stages of the 2025 NBA Draft process.
Someone is going to get their good vibes killed tonight. The Hornets need to contain that guard duo to make sure it’s not them. Joel Embiid has given this team nightmares in the past, and a match-up between he and a combination of Moussa Diabate, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Mason Plumlee is pretty much the biggest mismatch of all time on paper, but he’s on a minutes restriction and isn’t his best self right now.
Outside of Embiid and that guard trio, the 76ers available roster doesn’t look overly threatening. Kelly Oubre is still there, and Quentin Grimes was a star down the stretch of the tankathon. Both are capable of catching fire and playing like they’re stars, but both are equally capable of doing absolutely nothing. That could be the swing factor that determines the outcome of this game.
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