CHARLOTTE — Tyrese Maxey beat Kon Knueppel to a rebound and sprinted down the floor before throwing down a thunderous one-handed dunk on Miles Bridges that shook the Spectrum Center.
This was the explosive playmaking the Philadelphia 76ers have been missing for much of March. After sitting out the previous three weeks with a right finger tendon strain, Maxey returned and the Sixers were whole again on Saturday. With their big three of Joel Embiid, Maxey and Paul George on the court together, Philadelphia snapped Charlotte’s five-game winning streak at home with a pivotal 118-114 win at the Spectrum Center.
Currently in the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia (41-33) won the season series 2-1 and the tiebreaker over Charlotte with the victory. The Hornets (39-35) are now in 10th in the East and have another big home game against the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
This game, which Charlotte led by 15 midway through the third quarter, had a playoff feel to it.
“I think both teams were aware,” George said of the importance in the standings. “We were [both] seven and eight in the seeding [entering the night].
“This is where we got to kind of pull away. So it was definitely an emphasis tonight to win for sure.”
Maxey made 10-of-18 shots and finished with 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. His highlight dunk came at the start of a tightly-contested fourth quarter, tying the game at 97-97 with 10:03 to go. Maxey had seven points, four rebounds and three assists in the fourth as the Sixers got huge contributions on both sides of the floor.
“I let the game come to me at the beginning,” said Maxey, who scored 13 of his points in the second quarter. “Everybody was like, ‘Dude, all right. We know you just got back. Come on, let’s play.’ And I was like, ‘I got you.'”
George (26 points and 13 rebounds) had five rebounds in the fourth and drilled a 3 with 1:04 remaining to push the Sixers up by 116-114. After a Maxey free throw made it a 3-point lead, Embiid came up with a massive block on a Brandon Miller 3-pointer in front of the Sixers bench with 7.4 seconds remaining.
Following a timeout, the Hornets inbounded the ball to a curling LaMelo Ball, who pump faked and got George in the air. George still was able to recover and contest a corner 3 by Ball that missed, helping Philadelphia escape with a critical win.
Ball and Knueppel struggled, combining to shoot 10-for-40 from the field, including just 8-for-18 from 3. Miller led the Hornets with 29 points, Ball had 20 points and eight assists and Knueppel finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The last time the Sixers had Maxey, Embiid and George on the floor together was Jan. 29 against Sacramento. George was suspended for 25 games for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program; this was his second game back from suspension. This was also Embiid’s second game back after missing 13 straight games with a strained right oblique.
Kelly Oubre Jr. returned from a left elbow strain against Charlotte as well.
“Feeling good,” said Embiid, who had 29 points and six rebounds. “Keep playing basketball, obviously ramping up. I’m OK. Just got to keep playing basketball and get in better shape.
“… We need everybody we can get… We got to win every single game… We end up five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 [seed], it doesn’t matter. Still got to win. I don’t care where we end up.”
