Sixers Bell Ringer: Everything clicks for Philadelphia in blowout win over Charlotte

Sixers Bell Ringer regular season standings:

Joel Embiid: 33
Tyrese Maxey: 16
Seth Curry: 8
Tobias Harris: 6
James Harden: 4
Andre Drummond: 3
Matisse Thybulle: 3
Furkan Korkmaz: 1
Charles Bassey: 1
Paul Millsap: 1

Any good vibes that could have been used over the past week were apparently saved up for one all-out explosion Saturday afternoon in a 144-114 win over the Hornets. The 144 points were a new season-high, the 21 made three-pointers (on 43 attempts) tied a franchise-record, and their 86 second-half points were their most in a second half since 1971. The main guys were able to take an early seat to rest up for tomorrow’s back-to-back in Cleveland. We have no shortage of Bell Ringer options following today’s dominating performance. Apologies to the bench guys who played well, but the entire starting five crushed it, so let’s get to it.

Tobias Harris: 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers

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“Oh, you want catch-and-shoot threes? I’ll give you catch-and-shoot threes.” - Tobias Harris, during the press conference only taking place in my mind. Harris reached his idealized stretch four form in this contest, hitting a season-high five threes on nine attempts, three of which were of the pure catch-and-shoot variety. A trio of triples came in the game’s first six minutes to get things off on the right foot, as Harris eventually finished the first half with 16 points. Tobi still found time to back down the likes of Kelly Oubre Jr and Miles Bridges for his little bread-and-butter turnaround jumpers. He also had not one, not two, but three alley-oop feeds to DeAndre Jordan, one that had to be absolutely perfectly placed for a reverse dunk in heavy traffic.

Joel Embiid: 29 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 turnovers

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We didn’t expect Mason Plumlee and P.J. Washington to slow down Joel Embiid, and well, they didn’t. Any one-on-one opportunity for Joel was cash money, but we saw him do much of his damage while the Sixers spammed the pick-and-roll between him and James Harden. Embiid looked terrific as a roller, hitting a floater, absorbing contact for little fadeaways, or navigating around the last line of defense for lay-ins. The big man made some excellent passes as well, finding Tobias in the corner for a couple triples and making the extra pass of the roll to Georges Niang underneath the basket. You also have to love this mentality from Joel:

True leader.

James Harden: 12 points, 8 rebounds, 13 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers

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As mentioned above, the Harden-Embiid pick-and-roll was central to the Sixers’ offensive gameplan, with James making one on-point pass to Embiid through traffic after another. With 13 assists in just under 31 minutes, Harden was also making some terrific swings around the perimeter and high-low passes for points around the rim. Encouragingly, the Beard shot four (by my count) catch-and-shoot threes (making two). Hopefully those shots are something with which he’s gaining confidence.

Matisse Thybulle: 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover

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Anytime Matisse contributes offensively, it portends good things for the Sixers. It’s like the opponent thinks, “Come on, you can’t have that too.” That’s what happened in the third quarter when Thybulle sank a pair of threes and slammed home a dunk out of the dunker’s spot (apropos, huh?), scoring 8 of his 12 points. Not surprisingly then, the third quarter was when the Sixers outscored Charlotte, 45-27, breaking the game open. Matisse also secured all three of his steals in that period, making his usual combination of hustle/instinctive plays on the defensive end.

Tyrese Maxey: 19 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

Tyrese didn’t need to take over this game by any means given the scoreboard disparity, but he was maybe the biggest factor in the lead going from comfortable to laugher, scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second half. Maxey flashed his fastest player on the court status for a couple buckets, but continuing his crucial development in this area this season, he also sank three of his four three-point attempts, two of which were stepbacks. Two stepback threes automatically get you on this list; it’s a Liberty Ballers bylaw.