In light of the news that Joel Embiid will miss multiple games with a sinus fracture and Jared McCain is out indefinitely due to impending surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee, the Sixers returned to action in Charlotte on Monday night, looking to erase the bad taste from their mouths and nab another win against the Hornets.

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse's undermanned group clearly did not have impressive depth in this one. But his strongest pieces brought their absolute best, from Tyrese Maxey and Paul George thriving as lethal three-level scorers to Kelly Oubre Jr. doing every single thing he could on both ends of the floor to help his team emerge victorious. Here is what stood out from the Sixers' 121-108 victory in Charlotte:

Nurse tries out another new starting lineup

Against a young, fast-paced Hornets team which likes to surround one traditional center with perimeter-oriented players, Nurse countered Charlotte's athleticism by inserting KJ Martin into the starting five. Martin started at the four, and instead of Guerschon Yabusele manning the middle, Nurse went with Andre Drummond. Yabusele struggled quite a bit in the team's two games prior, averaging only 13.9 minutes across the pair of contests despite starting at center in each one.

Nurse's starting five in Charlotte: Maxey, Oubre, George, Martin and Drummond.

Meanwhile, Hornets All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball returned to action in this one after missing seven consecutive games with a calf injury. Ball was expected to play on a minutes restriction of some sort. Starting in between Ball and seven-footer Mark Williams were a trio of wings with tremendous athleticism: Josh Green, Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges.

Miller, who is averaging 22.0 points per game in his second NBA season, scored 34 points and knocked down seven three-pointers 13 days ago, when the Sixers narrowly defeated the Hornets in Charlotte.

Sixers and Hornets trade early runs, but Maxey and George put Sixers ahead

The first three minutes and 45 seconds of this game turned into quite an adventurous stretch. Oubre scored within seconds of Drummond winning the opening tip-off, George knocked down a mid-range jumper and Maxey drilled a three to give the Sixers a 7-0 lead after a minute and change:

Charlotte immediately rattled off eight straight points in the same amount of time to take the lead before the Sixers responded with their own 8-0 run. Maxey made a technical free throw and George connected on another two-point shot before Maxey scored in the mid-range once again before knocking down his second early triple to force a Hornets timeout.

Like Maxey, George was able to find an early rhythm, with each of the Sixers' two available All-Stars looking like their best selves from three-point range and inside the arc in the opening frame.

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the run was Maxey's long-range heater when considering his unusually poor numbers from three-point territory this season. Entering Monday's game, Maxey was shooting just 47-for-155 on three-point tries in his fifth NBA season — a career-low 30.3 three-point percentage on a career-high 9.1 three-point attempts per game. But Maxey and George each went 3-for-4 on three-point tries in the first quarter:

The Sixers held a 31-23 lead over the Hornets after one quarter, with George (15 points, 6-for-8 from the field, three assists, two rebounds) and Maxey (12 points, 4-for-9 from the field) combining to outscore Charlotte's entire team.

Eric Gordon reenters the picture and makes an impact

With McCain sidelined and the Sixers in need of both a guard of any kind and some additional three-point shooting in the back end of their rotation, Nurse hinted on Sunday that the 35-year-old Gordon would rejoin the mix. Gordon, who started for the Sixers on opening night saw his role continually reduce as a result of uncharacteristically poor three-point shooting. One of the best three-point shooters in recent NBA history, Gordon shot just 23.8 percent from three-point range in 16 games before receiving five consecutive DNP-coach's decisions.

Gordon seemed unlikely to receive another chance at playing time at any point in the near future, but McCain's injury opened things up for him.

"The first step is if somebody is out of the rotation, is what are they doing to try to get themselves back in?" Nurse said after the team's final practice before departing for Charlotte. "Eric came in here yesterday and had a great -- like, he's trying to get himself back in there. He's trying to stay ready and be ready to go. We did look at some of that at practice today. Again, he's had a good few days personally, a good day today with the team. Those are positive signs. I would say he's probably one of the candidates to come in there and fill [McCain's] position."

After a poor, albeit brief stint in the first half, Gordon returned to action as the Sixers' first substitution in the third quarter after Martin found himself in foul trouble. Gordon quickly knocked three spot-up triples, with the second one coming from 28 feet out.

Nurse staggers his two stars

It goes without saying that Nurse needed Maxey and George to each carry significant offensive workloads in the absences of Embiid and McCain. And while they needed to thrive while sharing the floor — which they did early on — they needed to be split up quite a bit to ensure the Sixers had one of their high-caliber scoring threats on the floor at all times.

So, Nurse was extremely intentional in his staggering of the minutes of Maxey and George, with each one playing quite a few shorter stints before being replaced by the other. This sort of rigid staggering is sometimes considered suboptimal by certain coaches, but in this situation it was absolutely necessary.

Drummond establishes dominance on the boards, but Hornets make a push to close half

The Sixers outscored Charlotte by nine points in Drummond's 14 minutes prior to intermission, and the veteran center was quite possibly the team's third-best player during the first half despite only attempting one shot. That is because Drummond pulled down 10 rebounds during those 14 minutes, completely obliterating Charlotte's frontcourt and asserting himself as a singular force on the glass. Drummond did have to sit for the final three minutes of the half, though, as he ran into foul trouble and was replaced by Yabusele.

With 60 seconds left in the first half, the Sixers held a game-high 12-point lead. But Ball led a Charlotte push, knocking down a three and assisting consecutive Bridges alley-oop slams. The Hornets went on a 9-2 run in the final minute of the first half, trimming the Sixers' lead to five points — 54-49 — at halftime. Ball did a lot of everything in 13 first-half minutes in his return, posting nine points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals.

George reaches an impressive milestone

Of the 54 points the Sixers scored prior to halftime, 42 belonged to Maxey and George, who also combined to knock down nine triples. Four of those belonged to George, and the fourth one was special, placing him 10th on the all-time three-pointers made list in NBA history, surpassing Jason Terry:

George is legitimately one of the best and most decorated three-point shooters in the history of the NBA, a critical component of his path to appearing in nine All-Star Games — on top of his remarkable scoring chops and strong defensive acumen.

Oubre continues to thrive by focusing on the little things

Oubre has never been secretive about his ambitions of being a high-volume scorer. But the swingman is at his best when he utilizes his athleticism and length to do all of the little things on both ends of the floor. Being locked in on rebounding, cutting and slashing has enabled Oubre to play his absolute best basketball of late.

Oubre drove and scored at the rim early in the third quarter, but the sequence immediately following that basket was far more impressive: Oubre stonewalled Miller on a drive, forced a miss at the rim and grabbed a contested defensive rebound. He brought the ball up, and after surveying the floor, he dished it to George and dashed in the direction of the All-Star wing to set a screen. Instead, Oubre slipped the screen and headed to the basket. George found Oubre cutting, and Oubre drew the low man and executed a perfect drop-off pass to Drummond for a slam:

Moments later, Nurse called a timeout with the Sixers leading by a dozen. Out of the timeout, the Sixers ran a beautiful set which enabled Oubre to nab his fourth assist of the game, finding a driving Maxey for a layup. Then Oubre nabbed a quick steal and went the other way for an easy basket, forcing a Hornets timeout after 25 seconds:

This is what the most productive version of Oubre — the one which drives winning the most — looks like. 

Maxey and George continue their dual onslaught, giving Sixers breathing room

While Oubre and Gordon each gave the Sixers enormous lifts during the team's terrific third quarter, Maxey and George each maintained their respective heaters. The Sixers' two available stars may have had the two most impressive shot-making performances of any Sixers all season. The fact that those came on the same night was a perfect storm. Maxey's sixth triple came after his fourth steal:

Maxey, George, Oubre and Gordon led the charge for the Sixers during a 41-point third quarter, which allowed them to enter the final frame with a 16-point lead after Ricky Council IV beat the buzzer with a floater.

MORE: Has Maxey made a defensive leap?

Hornets make a valiant effort, but Oubre helps Sixers emerge victorious

The Sixers had Charlotte on the ropes at the start of the fourth quarter, but could not land their knockout punch in the opening minutes of the period. Instead, Charlotte responded with a quick 7-0 run to force a Nurse timeout. It became a 10-0 run when Green knocked down a three out of the timeout, cutting the deficit to six points. Nurse pulled Drummond and the struggling Martin after tough turnovers, bringing Oubre back in after just a few moments of rest.

Oubre was able to stabilize things for a moment, knocking down a mid-range jumper, but Charlotte ended up outscoring the Sixers 14-2 in the first four minutes and five seconds of action in the fourth quarter. The Sixers got back on the board when Oubre put his head down, drove to the rim, drew a foul and knocked down a pair of free throws.

The one thing Oubre had not done well in this one was connect from long range. Naturally, with the Sixers leading by five points at the midway point of the fourth quarter, Oubre gave the Sixers additional margin for error with a crucial spot-up triple:

When a Sixers possession stagnated, Drummond was forced to throw up a heave from beyond the arc. He missed, but Oubre crashed the glass and grabbed the offensive rebound, reviving the possession and paving the way for George to knock down another triple, punctuating his first 30-point outing as a Sixer. Then Maxey got a bucket of his own, and it was all she wrote.

The Sixers are 8-16. 

Up next: The Sixers will have three more days off as the NBA Cup continues to create abnormalities in schedules across the league. Then, the Sixers will play their fourth and final game against the Hornets this season, hosting Charlotte on Friday night, before traveling to Cleveland to face the NBA-best Cavaliers the following night for their third back-to-back of 2024-25.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam

Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice