By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
The Philadelphia 76ers(20-34) take to the road to play the Hornets(24-30) in Charlotte on Monday night. The Sixers are searching for their third straight victory. Charlotte is currently on a two-game slide. The Sixers are in action two days removed from their big victory against the NBA's hottest commodity, the Miami Heat.
The two teams have met twice before this season, both with victories, splitting the season series. The Sixers are without Joel Embiid for the ninth straight game. Embiid has missed 12 of his last 13 games due to a slight meniscus tear in his left knee. The Sixers are also without the services of Jahlil Okafor, who is the center of trade talks as of right now. The center did not travel with the team.
Last meeting:
The last time the Sixers and the Hornets squared off, Philadelphia came away with a surprising 102-93 victory at the Wells Fargo Center. The win was the third in a hot stretch that lasted for weeks following, and featured a 24-point outburst from Joel Embiid. Embiid also had eight rebounds, three blocks, and two steals in the win. Dario Saric had 15 points and went 4-of-6 from three. The Hornets had four players with over 10 points from the floor. Two Hornets players, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist(12 points, 12 rebounds) and Cody Zeller(16 points, 10 rebounds) contributed double-doubles in the loss. The Sixers shot 47.4 percent from the field, and dominated the Hornets in the second half to come away with the victory.
Embiid's injury status change:
Besides trade rumors, the big story from the weekend was the change of story on Joel Embiid's injury suffered against the Portland Trail Blazers on January 20, and then re-aggravated on January 27. What was first ruled as a 'bone bruise', transformed into a 'slight torn meniscus.' Embiid is out for tonight's game, and most likely out for Wednesday's game vs. the Celtics, and his status for the NBA Rising Stars Game this weekend is in much doubt. With a week off after the All-Star Game, it's unknown what Embiid's status will be in the next couple weeks.
Will Jahlil Okafor ever play a game for the Sixers again?
Well, it's no secret that the Sixers have been engaged in intense trade scenarios in the past couple days, especially with trade rumors ramping up on Sunday afternoon. At the conclusion of Saturday night's game vs. the Heat, there were four major teams making a run at Jahlil Okafor. The Bulls, Pelicans, Blazers, and Nuggets were all in on the sweepstakes. By yesterday afternoon, Portland and Denver had already made a deal amongst themselves involving Mason Plumlee and Jusuf Nurkic, their big men. Before 5 p.m. on Sunday, the Bulls and Pelicans emerged as the straight-forward front-runners for Okafor.
It was then reported by Keith Pompey, which was featured in an article from Josh Liddick of Sports Talk Philly, that Okafor didn't travel with the team, as the trade rumors persist. There lies a chance that the Sixers could make a move to trade Okafor before the game on Monday, but only time will tell if Bryan Colangelo pulls the trigger.
The Trade Deadline is February 23.
Previous Game Rewind:
Sixers: The Sixers pulled off a big upset win over the Miami Heat on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center, 117-109. The victory snapped the Heat's 13-game winning streak. Nerlens Noel and Robert Covington both had 19 points for the Sixers in the win, Dario Saric had 19 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block off the bench. T.J. McConnell had another stellar outing with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Sixers fought off a 30 point game from Goran Dragic and a 12 point, 19 rebound effort from Hassan Whiteside.
Hornets: The Hornets dropped a close game to the Los Angeles Clippers, 107-102 in Charlotte. Nicolas Batum had 25 points, Frank Kaminski added 20 points. Marco Belinelli put up 17 points off the bench. The Hornets had a tough time guarding Blake Griffin and Austin Rivers, who had 20 and 18 points, respectively. The loss is the Hornets second-straight.
| Matchup Preview | February 13, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Philadelphia 76ers (20-34, 7-18 Away) |
Charlotte Hornets (24-30, 16-12 Home) |
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Game info:
Where: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC
When: 7 p.m.
Watch: CSN Philly
Listen: 97.5 The Fanatic
