SERIES REVIEW

Charlotte Hornets - Philadelphia 76ers

Here we had a battle in the East between the second seed, Charlotte and the seventh seed, Philadelphia.

Going off face value it would appear the old king Lebron James was there to defend his mantle against the young prince in Luka Doncic.

The 76ers had a rocky season to say the least. On paper their line up was more than solid, looking like more than a 45 win team, however injuries are the main factor in the seemingly low wins total. The King, Lebron playing only 53 games in the regular season. But anyone who knows anything about basketball would never count out Lebron in the post season, and fortunately for GM, Ben, Lebron was healthy and ready to go!

The Hornets, led be GM, Craig, have done nothing but aim high since he took over the team. Never wanting to be another one of the many cellar dwellers, he started making win now moves, which makes perfect sense seeing as you have one of the best players in the world in Luka.

From memory a few moves might have received some backlash from the peanut gallery, but who is laughing now. Charlotte finished second in the East with a winning record of 64 games.

GAME ONE

 CHA - 0 PHI - 0

Here it is, playoff basketball. June 24th 2021, Charlotte starting off the series with the home court advantage. 

The starting lineups:

Philadelphia 76ers

PG - Lebron James

SG - Shaquille Harrison

SF - Tobias Harris

PF - Al Horford

C - Daniel Gafford

Charlotte Hornets

PG - Patrick Beverley

SG - Chris Paul

SF - Jerami Grant

PF - Luka Doncic

C - Demarcus Cousins

It would appear Beverley starting at point guard over hall of famer Chris Paul was purely for matchup and defensive reasons. In this game Ben had opted to bring his boy Draymond Green off the bench.

The offensive fire power of the Hornets looks scary, and in this game that is what prevailed.

Luka had 31 points, Grant had 21 and Paul had 22. It was too much of an offensive spread for Philly to match it. Yeah Lebron went off for 43 but didn�t get enough contributions from other guys to keep up.

Another big difference in this one was the bench points. On paper the Hornets seem to be a lot deeper, with Chris Boucher, Jordan Clarkson, Rajon Rondo and Joe Ingles all coming off the pine. This depth showed in the bench points. The Charlotte bench scored 38 points while The Philly bench only scored 20 points.

Charlotte ended up taking this one by 10 points, 124 to 114. A pleasing start for Craig I'm sure.

GAME TWO

CHARLOTTE - 1 PHILADELPHIA - 0

Game two, June 27th 2021, Charlotte looking to get their second win at home while the 76ers are wanting to stem the tide and even it up.

No changes coming to the Charlotte lineup, Craig must of liked what he saw in game 1 and thought why mess with a good thing.

Philadelphia however, were not happy with game one so some changes were coming. Green came back into the starting lineup, sliding Horford up and Gafford to the bench. Matisse Thybulle also replaced Harrison at the shooting guard spot. I personally like the look of this Philly line up much more. But what i like counts for nothing.

The starting lineups:

Philadelphia 76ers

PG - Lebron James

SG - Mattisse Thybulle

SF - Tobias Harris

PF - Draymond Green

C - Al Horford

Charlotte Hornets

PG - Patrick Beverley

SG - Chris Paul

SF - Jerami Grant

PF - Luka Doncic

C - Demarcus Cousins

A very different game in this one compared to first. It appeared The 76ers wanted to temper the Hornets free flowing and high scoring style of play, which worked.

Philly had a consistent scoring output, similar to game one, scoring 116 compared to their previous 114. The difference was Charlotte scoring a series low 98 points.  besides Luke getting 24 points and Beverley getting a possible career high of 22, there was not much else in terms of scoring output from The Hornets.

Both benches had similar outputs, but the 76ers starting five was too well rounded this time. Lebron again had a brilliant game, only one rebound short of a 38 point triple double. 

GAME THREE

CHARLOTTE - 1 PHILADELPHIA - 1

Game three, June 30th 2021, Philadelphia are bring the series to their home court after tying it up at one a piece.

The roles reversed in this one, with Philadelphia keeping their winning lineup and Charlotte making some changes.

The changes being Cousins benched for Boucher and Grant benched for Ingles.

The starting lineups:

Philadelphia 76ers

PG - Lebron James

SG - Mattisse Thybulle

SF - Tobias Harris

PF - Draymond Green

C - Al Horford

Charlotte Hornets

PG - Patrick Beverley

SG - Chris Paul

SF - Joe Ingles

PF - Luka Doncic

C - Chris Boucher

The Hornets must of had a fiery pre game, because they came out of the gates hot. Scoring 40 points in the first quarter, outscoring Philly by 22.

Philly managed to claw their way back into it, they only trailed by two points at three quarter time. But like Charlotte started the game, they finished it in the same fashion. Outscoring The 76ers 37 to 22 in the final quarter. Winning by 17 points. 119 to 102.

It was Luka and Paul who took the team on their back, scoring a combined 64 points.

Lebron had another good outing with an almost 30 point triple double, and Harris showed up, but obviously wasn�t enough. 

GAME FOUR

CHARLOTTE - 2 PHILADELPHIA - 1

Game four, July 2nd 2021, Charlotte looking at taking a 3 -1 lead, and obviously Philadelphia wanting to tie it up again with their final home game. 

The theme of the winner of the previous game making no lineup changes continued. Charlotte not making any moves in their starting five. However Philadelphia made some fairly large changes. The names on the paper were the same, but just listed drastically different positions. 

Lebron James moved in to the power forward spot, and Draymond Green to the point guard one. Both of them obviously have the play making pedigree, so interesting to see how it plays out.

The starting lineups:

Philadelphia 76ers

PG - Draymond Green

SG - Mattisse Thybulle

SF - Tobias Harris

PF - Lebron James

C - Al Horford

Charlotte Hornets

PG - Patrick Beverley

SG - Chris Paul

SF - Joe Ingles

PF - Luka Doncic

C - Chris Boucher

The big noticeable change to the rotations was the The 76ers really tightened up their rotations, letting their core carry all of the load, only running a seven man rotation. 

This became a shootout, not between teams but between their respective stars.

Luka vs Lebron.

Luka lead his team with 40 points, 5 assists and 7 rebounds.

While Lebron stamped his authority with 50 points and 14 rebounds, adding 2 steals and blocks also.

Obviously that is an incredible game, which lead to Philly evening up the series. However there was an unsuspected hero for them. Enter Boban Marjonavic, who in 26 minutes off the bench had one of the more efficient games you will see. 9-10 from the field and 5-5 from the stripe, totalling 23 points. He also added 16 rebounds. He was obviously feeling it this game, and the Charlotte big men were not match for him.

GAME FIVE

CHARLOTTE - 2 PHILADELPHIA - 2

Game five, July 4th 2021, Charlotte returning to their home court with the series all tied up.

Both teams making some changes in this one.

Charlotte introduced finals veteran, Danny Green into he starting lineup, replacing Thybulle, hoping that the experience can give his team the edge.

Philadelphia went bigger for this one, starting Cousins and Boucher together, which hadn�t been a lineup we had seen yet. This slid Luka to small forward and sent Ingles to the bench.

The starting lineups:

Philadelphia 76ers

PG - Draymond Green

SG - Danny Green

SF - Tobias Harris

PF - Lebron James

C - Al Horford

Charlotte Hornets

PG - Patrick Beverley

SG - Chris Paul

SF - Luka Doncic

PF - Chris Boucher

C - Demarcus Cousins

Game five, returning to Charlotte, the fans would have been hyped beyond comprehension. Then it wouldn�t of taken too long for them to have been disappointed beyond all comprehension. 

Unfortunately they had to sit through somewhat of a blow out loss.

Charlotte lost the first three quarters and were down by 21 points going into the fourth quarter, from there it wasn�t long until the benches were cleared and it was only in junk time they managed to win the final quarter, but was too little too late.

Lebron said �i will handle this�, with a 48 point almost triple double. Just making the statement that he is far from past his best. Lebron and co. were clearly too much to handle in this one.

GAME SIX

CHARLOTTE - 2 PHILADELPHIA - 3

Game six, July 6th 2021, The series returning back to Philadelphia along with the hopes and excitement of the home court team closing out the series in front of their fans.

Changes were made to the Hornets line up, in a last ditch effort to stay alive.

The twin towers experiment was short lived and Cousins returned to the bench. Grant was injected back into he starting five at the power forward spot, keeping Luke at small forward.

The starting lineups:

Philadelphia 76ers

PG - Draymond Green

SG - Danny Green

SF - Tobias Harris

PF - Lebron James

C - Al Horford

Charlotte Hornets

PG - Patrick Beverley

SG - Chris Paul

SF - Luka Doncic

PF - Jerami Grant

C - Chris Boucher

Philadelphia kept rolling with their seven man rotation, with Harrison and Marjanovic being their two guys off the bench.

Charlotte went with some similar as well, having just an eight man rotation. With their bench contributors being Cousins, Ingles and Caruso.

With all the starters logging heavy minutes, It was a tight match going into the fourth quarter.

The score at three quarter time was 88 - 91, The 76ers having the small lead.

Luka and Lebron had both been doing what they had been all series.

Chris Paul and Jerami Grant had also had solid contributions, trying to keep the series alive.

But it was the same story as the last game, Philly were just too much for Charlotte to contain them. Once again this fourth quarter onslaught was lead by the King. Having his biggest game of the series when it mattered most. 

Philadelphia outscored Charlotte 46 to 27 in final quarter.

The late charge, led by Lebron who put up 56 points, 13 assists and 15 rebounds. He had some nice help from his running mate Tobias Harris who put up 25 points and Danny Green showed his poise and experience chipping in 16 points.

Draymond who has kind of gone unmentioned this far, mainly because his stats on the box score haven�t been much to write about, but we all know the intangibles that Draymond does night in and night out. Well, it showed in this one. He had a classic Draymond stat line with 9 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds but had a massive +35 plus/minus, which was a game high and he definitely deserves some credit, which I'm sure he gets from his organisation and the faithful fans.

SERIES RECAP

CHARLOTTE - 2 PHILADELPHIA - 4

A great series between two great teams. Both GMs made big moves throughout the season to put them in this position.

The Hornets and their front office would have definitely not wanted to come up against Philadelphia and Lebron this early in the playoffs. Unfortunately for them, that�s how it played out.

Luka showed that he is a star and Craig showed that he has what it takes to put a squad up around him. I have no doubt the Hornets will continue to be present int he post season for years to come.

Congratulations to Philadelphia and Ben who did what it took thought the season and made some moves to make what he believes is a championship roster. Especially when �youth� and �upside� seem to be over valued, he made the call to get the best player in the world. which is paying off now.

The 76ers won 3 in a row to close this out. so Ben may have figured out what works and i am sure will use what he has learned going forward.

Philly now has a matchup against Bulls, who like them, had an underwhelming regular season, but now that they�re healthy are the powerhouse we knew from last season.

It will be a tough matchup for both squads and exciting for the league.

PLAYER OF THE SERIES

LEBRON JAMES

I think this kind of goes without saying, but i will say it anyway. The King prevails. He was on an absolute tear the whole series. 

His stats for the series speak for themselves.

In the six games Lebron James had averages of:

44.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 2 steals and 2.3 blocks.

Let that sink in.

He averaged over ten more points per game than anyone else in the series, and was more than double the points average of anyone else on his team.

Just proves what a series he had and how he can literally carry a team to a championship as we have seen before.