Tyrese Maxey scored 38 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, as the Philadelphia 76ers rallied from 13 points down to beat the Charlotte Hornets 109-104 on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Maxey 38-point night lifted Philadelphia to 6-1 on the season and extended one of the early season's most striking trends: this was the 76ers' fourth comeback win from more than 10 points down in just seven games.
Maxey, the star guard who has carried Philadelphia's offence through the opening weeks, did his best work when the game was slipping away. He scored 15 of his 38 in the final quarter as the 76ers erased the deficit and closed out a game that, with less than five minutes left, still looked like it belonged to Charlotte. Anfernee Simons added 19 points off the bench, including five three-pointers, and Grayson Allen led the Hornets with 27 points, including seven three-pointers, while Brandon Miller added 24 in a losing cause. The final sequence was dramatic enough that the NBA's own highlight package billed it as an "insane ending" in the last 4:44.
The game turned in the fourth quarter, and it turned on Maxey. Charlotte had controlled long stretches of the night and led by 13 points, a margin that in most early-season games is enough to hold. Philadelphia, however, has made a habit of refusing to accept that script. Maxey attacked in the final period, scoring 15 points as the 76ers chipped away, then took control, and the Hornets — who had shot well enough to build the lead, with Allen hitting seven three-pointers — could not find a basket when they needed one most.
Simons gave Philadelphia the bench punch it needed, scoring 19 points and hitting five shots from beyond the arc, with three steals to go with them. His contribution mattered because Philadelphia was short-handed at the top of the roster: LeBron James and Joel Embiid were both rested with injuries, leaving Maxey as the clear focal point of the offence and the player Charlotte's defence had to stop. Charlotte knew it, shaded towards him, and still could not stop him in the fourth quarter. That is the simplest summary of the night: the Hornets built a lead against a short-handed favourite, and the favourite's best player took the game back anyway.
The closing minutes were frantic. The NBA's highlight of the final 4:44 shows a game that swung back and forth until Philadelphia finally pulled clear, and the 109-104 final score flatters neither side: Charlotte was good enough to lead by 13, and Philadelphia was resilient enough to win by five. For the Hornets, the defeat was their fourth in seven games, a record that leaves them at 3-4 and still searching for the consistency that would turn competitive nights like this one into wins. Allen's 27 points and Miller's 24 showed the scoring is there; the closing is not, at least not yet.
Philadelphia's start to the season has been defined less by dominance than by recovery. The 76ers are 6-1, but four of those wins have now come from more than 10 points down — a pattern that says two things at once. On one hand, it speaks to belief and fourth-quarter execution, with Maxey as the closer and a bench, led on this night by Simons, that can change a game. On the other, it speaks to slow starts: a team that keeps digging holes will eventually run into an opponent that refuses to let it climb out. Charlotte nearly was that opponent.
The context around the roster adds to the story. James, who joined Philadelphia as a free agent in July and has already produced defining moments in a 76ers shirt — including late heroics in the NBA Cup opener against New York — and Embiid, the franchise centre, were both rested with injuries on Saturday. Their absence made the win more impressive and more instructive: it showed that Philadelphia's system and its bench can survive a night without its two biggest names, provided Maxey plays like this. It also raised the obvious question for the weeks ahead, which is how much of this early-season workload Maxey can carry before the reinforcements return.
Charlotte, meanwhile, continues to look like a team in transition. At 3-4, the Hornets have shown they can score — Allen's seven three-pointers and Miller's 24 points are evidence of that — but they have now lost a game they led by 13 against a short-handed opponent. That is the kind of defeat that stays with a young team, and it will be the first thing their coaches point to when they review the film: the lead was real, the collapse was avoidable, and the fourth quarter belonged entirely to one player.
Focus on the fourth quarter and the game explains itself. Maxey scored 15 of his 38 points there, and he did it while Charlotte's defence was built to stop him. That is what separates a good scoring night from a match-winning one: the points came when the Hornets knew exactly who was going to shoot, and still could not prevent it. His final line — 38 points, four rebounds, four assists — only partly captures the performance, because the timing of the points mattered as much as the total.
Simons deserves equal mention for the way the bench changed the game. Nineteen points, five three-pointers and three steals from a reserve is the kind of line that wins close games, and it gave Maxey the support he needed when James and Embiid were unavailable. For Charlotte, Allen's 27 points, built on seven three-pointers, and Miller's 24 kept the Hornets in front for most of the night. But basketball games are not won by leading for three quarters; they are won by closing, and in the closing minutes Philadelphia had the better closer.
The numbers tell the story more plainly than any post-game quote could. Maxey's 38 points, with 15 in the fourth quarter, against a 13-point deficit, is the headline. Simons' 19 points off the bench, with five three-pointers, is the supporting line. Allen's 27 points and Miller's 24 are the reminder that Charlotte played well enough to win for most of the night.
Around the league on Saturday, the results underlined how much the early season is already sorting itself out. Memphis stayed perfect at 6-0 with a 136-105 win over Sacramento, Cleveland beat Milwaukee 136-111, Houston beat Oklahoma City 119-98, New Orleans beat Atlanta 121-99, Portland beat Utah 112-90, and San Antonio — led by Victor Wembanyama's 43 points — beat Minnesota 121-111. Philadelphia's win belongs in that company not because it was the biggest margin, but because of how it was won: from 13 down, short-handed, on the road, with one player taking over the fourth quarter.
This game matters for Philadelphia because it confirms something the first six games only suggested: the 76ers can win ugly, short-handed and from behind. Teams that win only when everything goes right do not survive an 82-game season; teams that win from 13 down, without two stars, on the road, tend to be still playing in May. The risk, of course, is that the comeback habit becomes a crutch. A team cannot keep falling behind by double digits and expect Maxey to rescue it every night, and the coaching staff will know that better than anyone.
It matters for Charlotte because it is a missed opportunity of the kind that defines a season. Beating a 6-1 team, even a short-handed one, would have been a statement. Losing from 13 up, at home, to a one-man fourth quarter, is the opposite of a statement. The Hornets' young core will learn from it or repeat it, and the next few weeks will show which.
It matters for Maxey because nights like this build a case. Thirty-eight points is a headline; 15 in the fourth quarter of a comeback win is a reputation. If he keeps producing fourth quarters like this one, the conversation about Philadelphia's season will increasingly start with him, not with the stars around him.
Philadelphia moves on at 6-1 with its comeback habit intact and its injury list still the main question. The return dates for James and Embiid will shape how much longer Maxey has to carry this load, and the 76ers' next games will test whether they can start faster and spare themselves another double-digit rescue. Charlotte, at 3-4, goes back to work on closing games: the scoring is there, the lead-building is there, and the final five minutes are the problem to solve.
Sunday's NBA slate — Boston at Orlando, Brooklyn at Indiana, the LA Clippers at Golden State and Toronto at the LA Lakers — will give both teams' rivals a chance to respond, but neither Philadelphia nor Charlotte plays again until the next round of fixtures. When they do, the film from the final 4:44 in Charlotte will be the first thing both coaching staffs show their players: for one team, proof of what resilience looks like; for the other, proof of how quickly a 13-point lead can disappear.
Maxey scored 38 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, with four rebounds and four assists, as Philadelphia beat Charlotte 109-104.
Philadelphia rallied from 13 points down. It was the 76ers' fourth comeback win from more than 10 points down in seven games this season.
Anfernee Simons scored 19 points off the bench for Philadelphia, with five three-pointers. Grayson Allen led Charlotte with 27 points and Brandon Miller scored 24.
Philadelphia improved to 6-1, while Charlotte fell to 3-4.
Both were rested with injuries, leaving Maxey as Philadelphia's focal point on the night.
Related coverage: 76ers beat Knicks 98-93 as LeBron's late heroics seal NBA Cup opener and Wembanyama drops 43 as Spurs beat Timberwolves 121-111. More NBA news is available on the US News Pulse homepage.
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