3 sightings after McCain, Yabusele came up huge in the Sixers’ second OT win

3 sightings after McCain, Yabusele came up huge in the Sixers’ second OT win originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers rode stellar performances from rookie Jared McCain and makeshift backup center Guerschon Yabusele to their second win of the season Sunday night.

McCain had 27 points on 10-for-18 shooting, Yabusele had 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting and the Sixers pulled out a 107-105 overtime victory at the Wells Fargo Center over the Hornets.

They improved to 2-7 on the season and Charlotte fell to 4-6.

In his home Sixers debut, Paul George had 15 points (6 for 18 from the field) and nine assists.

Hornets star LaMelo Ball had 38 points and eight assists.

The Sixers remained without Joel Embiid (suspension) and Tyrese Maxey (right hamstring strain). Embiid is expected to play his first game of the season Tuesday night against the Knicks.

Here are observations of the Sixers’ second overtime win of the year:

George finds some flow early

George was in the middle of everything at the start of his home Sixers debut.

He fell short on an opening three-point play, then drove hard for a layup on the Sixers’ next drive.

After about four minutes, George was down on the floor in the right corner after appearing to take an accidental punch to the face from Hornets rookie Tidjane Salaun. He was visibly shaken, but George eventually got up, walked to the bench and stayed in the game.

As the first quarter progressed, George found rhythm and looked more confident. George’s minutes had been limited the past three games since returning from a bruised left knee, meaning fewer opportunities to find sustained flow. Nick Nurse said the forward George had recently discussed that challenge with him. On Sunday, the Sixers’ head coach played George nearly 10 straight minutes to begin the night.

Nurse directed Yabusele to the opposite corner from George at one point to ensure the nine-time All-Star had room to line up Hornets shooting guard Josh Green. George drained a pretty fadeaway shirt. He then fed a rolling Yabusele for a layup.

George finished with 33 minutes Sunday and sat out overtime. He’s clearly nowhere near his best yet, but life should get significantly easier once Embiid is on the floor drawing double-team after double-team.

Dowtin steps up

Offense was a serious struggle for both teams in the opening quarter. The Sixers had a one-point lead after the first period with a 16-15 comeback.

They forced a whopping 10 Hornets turnovers in the first. Charlotte seemed to have reasonable gripes about a couple of no-calls, but the Sixers generally played good, active defense and capitalized on the physicality that was considered legitimate Sunday.

The Sixers’ first-quarter rotation included two players who hadn’t seen the floor Friday night in a loss to the Lakers. Eric Gordon was back in the mix, and two-way contract player Jeff Dowtin Jr. received his first minutes outside of garbage time this season. Reggie Jackson stayed on the bench.

Dowtin was impressively ready to roll, sinking a catch-and-shoot three on his first shot. He also scored a driving layup and short jumper early in the second quarter.

Dowtin also defended well at the top of the Sixers’ defense. The 27-year-old showed that he is a solid, low-error player who is capable of contributing when thrown into the fire.

The sudden burst of playing time seemed to hit Dowtin in the second quarter. He hunched over and grimaced as Andre Drummond prepared to shoot the free throw. Kyle Lowry sat in.

Dowtin was the only Sixer to make a three-pointer in the first half. The team was 1 for 14 from long range in the first two quarters and had misses ranging from in-and-out, wide-open jumpers to closely contested shots that never had much of a chance.

Still, the Sixers had enough close-range success to stay in the game. Three consecutive Kelly Oubre Jr. layups in the final minute of the second quarter gave them a 46-45 lead.

McCain and Yabusele each huge

Nurse decided to start the third quarter with Yabusele at center instead of Drummond. There was enough to support his choice.

Yabusele sat out Drummond on the Sixers’ three-game West Coast trip and did the same in Sunday’s first half. Although he had a pair of muscular buckets inside, Drummond allowed Grant Williams to knock down two three-pointers in the second quarter. The Sixers were outscored by 10 points in the first half with Drummond on the court.

As Nurse acknowledged before the game, Yabusele’s shooting tends to open up the Sixers’ offense. He brought that and a ton more to the table Sunday, including game-changing perimeter defense, decent work on the defensive glass and excellent decision-making on dribble handoffs and pick-and-rolls.

Both Yabusele and McCain made two long jumpers in the third quarter. Always eager to pounce in transition, McCain hit a three with 4.4 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Sixers a 76-66 advantage. His pull-up jumper early in the fourth stretched the team’s lead to 14 points.

However, Charlotte quickly stormed back. George kept missing his jumpers, Ball got hot and two Brandon Miller free throws lifted the Hornets to an 87-86 lead with just over three minutes left.

McCain remained very offensive and unfazed by the situation. He reached the 20-point mark for the first time in his NBA career with a gritty pull-up jumper. Then he gleefully accepted a Lowry skip pass and drilled a clutch go-ahead three. Caleb Martin scored his first points of the night from almost the same spot to put the Sixers up 94-89.

It failed to seal anything resembling a routine victory. Lowry missed a free throw with 10.2 seconds left and Ball tied the game by making a cold-blooded three.

The Sixers got George the ball on the final possession of regulation, and he missed a well-guarded three over Cody Martin, falling to 1 for 9 from long range.

With George out, Nurse started overtime with a Yabusele-Drummond frontcourt. Both Yabusele and McCain continued to make vital plays. Yabusele scored a post-up hoop and McCain converted a driving layup during a back-and-forth, high-drama stretch. McCain held up just fine when he switched to Ball, and Charlotte committed a shot-clock violation.

Naturally, the final seconds of overtime were full of chaos. The Sixers ultimately escaped, in part because Martin grabbed the offensive rebound after Yabusele missed consecutive free throws. They will be excited about any kind of victory these days.