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Preview Bobcats at 76ers

THE STORY: The Philadelphia 76ers have hit a little snag on the way to becoming the best team in the Eastern Conference. Luckily for them, the Charlotte Bobcats are around to pick them up. The 76ers began the season 10-3 behind a defense that was holding opponents under 86 points. One of the keys to that defense was in the middle, where Spencer Hawes was becoming more than a scoring big man. Hawes has been out the last five games with an Achilles injury, however, and his backup, Nikola Vucevic, has missed the last two with a quad strain. With Hawes out of the lineup, opposing centers have had big games while Philadelphia has dropped three of its last five. The Bobcats, who visit the 76ers on Friday, have not been able to take advantage of any team’s weaknesses lately. Owner of the worst record in the NBA, Charlotte has dropped six in a row and could be without its top two scorers again on Friday.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, SSO (Charlotte), CSP (Philadelphia)

ABOUT THE BOBCATS (3-16): Gerald Henderson (15.4 points) missed Wednesday’s game with a sore back and D.J. Augustin (13.6) sat for the second straight game with a toe injury. Augustin has already been ruled out for Friday while Henderson will be a game-time decision. Without those two in the lineup, rookie Kemba Walker could not carry the team even against the lowly Washington Wizards in a 92-75 loss on Wednesday.

ABOUT THE 76ERS (12-6): Philadelphia has been forced to use a smaller lineup in order to maximize scoring. That allowed Nene to have a big game in a loss to the Denver Nuggets on Jan. 18, Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem to go off in a loss to the Miami Heat on Saturday, and Kris Humphries to pull down 19 rebounds in a 97-90 overtime loss to the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday. In those three setbacks – two of which went to overtime – Philadelphia yielded an average of 106 points. Both Hawes and Vucevic are day-to-day.

BUZZER BEATERS:

1. Charlotte owns the worst point differential in the East, surrendering 11.9 more than they score.

2. Walker is shooting 31.4 percent over the last four games.

3. Philadelphia took two of three in the series last season.

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