76ers 89, Hornets 81
Robert Covington scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half as Philadelphia rallied from a 16-point second-quarter deficit to win a season-high fourth straight home game.
Covington was 5-of-10 from behind the arc and and Hollis Thompson added 18 points and three 3-pointers for the 76ers, who held Charlotte to 3-of-17 shooting in the decisive third quarter that turned a six-point deficit into a nine-point edge. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had 13 points and seven rebounds as Philadelphia won despite playing a second straight game without Michael Carter-Williams (toe).
Al Jefferson had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets, who had a three-game win streak snapped. Gerald Henderson added 17 points and nine assists but Charlotte managed to shoot just 34.5 percent, including 6-of-23 from the arc.
Thompson drained a pair of 3-pointers during a 12-2 run to end the first half to bring Philadelphia within six, and Covington took over in the third. The sharpshooter, who scored the final basket of the first half, drained a trio of 3-pointers in addition to a pair of free throws to help Philadelphia build a 70-57 lead with two minutes left in the third.
A drive by Henderson cut the Sixers' lead to five in the fourth, but Mbah a Moute hit a jumper and Covington scored underneath and from the arc to restore a 12 point bulge with 6:49 left in the contest. Covington added another 3-pointer down the stretch as Philadelphia provided Charlotte with just its fourth loss in 16 games.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Hornets F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist went to the locker room in the second quarter with a strained right hamstring and did not return. … The three field goals yielded by the 76ers in the third quarter were a season low. … Thompson has 57 points on 20-of-32 shooting, including 11-of-17 from the arc, in his last three games.