The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Charlotte Hornets, 105 - 99, at Spectrum Center on Monday evening. The Sixers (21 - 34) are clearly an improved team this season, and Monday's game was a tangible example of such. In past seasons, even a Philadelphia squad at full strength would have found a win on the road a near impossibility. Take out two key players and a 30 - to - 40 - point defeat was a very real possibility. However, this season's unit is playing with a very different level of confidence, and that intangible was pivotal to the Sixers notching a hard - fought victory despite the absences of Joel Embiid (knee) and Jahlil Okafor (coach's decision). Six players managed double digits in the scoring column, and Philadelphia shot 48 percent from the field overall. They played strong defense as well, limiting the Hornets (24 - 31) to a 44 percent success rate from the field and 36 percent from three - point range. Dario Saric led the visitors overall with 18 points off the bench, which he supplemented with 11 boards, three assists and one block. Robert Covington tallied 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and one block. T.J. McConnell supplied 14 points, seven assists, four rebounds and one steal. Gerald Henderson and Nerlens Noel provided matching 12 - point efforts, with the former adding four boards and one assist, and the latter registering seven boards, one assist, three steals and two blocks. Nik Stauskas generated 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal. Kemba Walker paced the Hornets with a game - high 29 points, which he supplemented with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Nicolas Batum compiled 16 points, four assists, one rebound and two steals. Frank Kaminsky III posted a 12 - point, 11 - rebound double - double that also included two assists, three blocks and one steal. Jeremy Lamb led the second unit with 12 points and one steal. Marco Belinelli and Brian Roberts were productive as well with matching eight - point efforts. The Sixers travel to Beantown for a Wednesday night date with the Boston Celtics, while the Hornets travel north of the border to tangle with the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday evening as well.
["TeamStat(G,'Hornets') has 36 Percentage of 3 points ,has 44 Percentage of field goals ,has 31 Losses ,has 99 Total points ,has 24 Wins ."
 "TeamStat(G,'76ers') has 36 Percentage of 3 points ,has 48 Percentage of field goals ,has 105 Losses ."]