The Sixers were missing four starters, including Joel Embiid who missed his fourth straight game in Denver. That didn’t stop them from putting up a fight against Nikola Jokic and the defending champions.
A career-high Paul Reed performance and a tremendous team effort weren't enough for the Sixers on Saturday at Ball Arena.
Despite Reed's 30 points and 13 rebounds, the Sixers fell to a 111-105 loss to the Nuggets.
Reed was one of four Sixers to post at least 17 points. Kelly Oubre Jr. was the team's No. 2 scorer with 25.
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Nikola Jokic recorded 26 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists. Jamal Murray had 23 points and seven assists for the Nuggets, who improved to 32-15.
The 29-15 Sixers were seriously depleted. Most notably, they were without Joel Embiid, who was scratched because of left knee soreness shortly before tip-off.
Tyrese Maxey (left ankle sprain), Tobias Harris (illness), De’Anthony Melton (lumbar spine stress response), Robert Covington (left knee bone bruise) and Mo Bamba (right knee inflammation) were sidelined as well.
The Sixers have a back-to-back on deck. They’ll play the Trail Blazers on Monday and the Warriors on Tuesday, then complete their five-game road trip with a game Thursday night against the Jazz.
NBA
Here are observations on their narrow defeat to Denver:
Reed money in the mid-range
The Sixers rolled out a starting lineup of Patrick Beverley, Oubre., Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris Sr. and Reed for the first time this season.
Denver’s full-strength starters were expectedly superior out of the gates. Murray made three long-range jumpers in the first three minutes and the Nuggets took a 13-4 lead.
The Sixers had almost everyone guard Jokic on Saturday. Out of necessity, they were far more inclined to send hard double teams at him than they’d been in a Jan. 16 victory over Denver. He found teammates for a few easy hoops but did relatively little damage offensively in the first quarter.
No one would have foreseen Reed scoring eight more first-quarter points than Jokic. Reed put up open jumpers and gained confidence as one after another dropped. He made four mid-range shots in the first and finished the quarter with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has recently stressed Reed playing to his strengths, saying he’s “not as concerned with trying to expand his offensive game or any of that kind of stuff, because he needs to excel at what he’s really doing well. That stuff may or may not come in time, but he’s already a really good NBA player at what he does and we need to see that … more often.”
Of course, the circumstances Saturday meant that in-rhythm Reed jumpers were much better shots than usual for the Sixers. Beverley fed him regularly, racking up seven assists in under 13 minutes.
Morris got into a great mid-range groove, too. Returning from a two-game absence with left foot plantar fasciitis, he nailed multiple tough jumpers and was the Sixers’ leading first-half scorer with 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting. That tied his season high for an entire game.
As a team, the Sixers started a red-hot 13 of 17.
A second-unit spark
The Sixers’ bench opened brightly and helped prevent Denver from establishing a large early advantage.
KJ Martin forced a missed Murray jumper, then cut backdoor past Jokic and converted a layup. Soon after checking in, Danuel House Jr. scored a driving hoop. He picked off a second-quarter pass intended for Jokic and then stormed down the floor for an and-one bucket.
Jaden Springer and Furkan Korkmaz were the two other members of the Sixers’ second unit. Nurse had Springer aggressively defend Murray on a couple of second-quarter possessions when the Sixers played box-and-one. The 21-year-old guard later got switched on to Jokic and drew an offensive foul against him.
To win Saturday, the Sixers needed to outwork the Nuggets, hit some difficult shots, and have a few other areas break their way. They were certainly on the right track in the first half.
An Oubre put-back layup gave the team its first lead at 51-50 and the Sixers trailed by a mere two points at halftime.
Sixers can't quite overcome the odds
The odds of a Sixers win were still low going into the second half.
At the 11:15 mark of the third quarter, every Sixers starter had two fouls. It also hurt that the team didn’t carry its excellent first-half shooting behind the arc Saturday, going 6 for 21 from three-point range. Denver ultimately had a 21-point advantage from long distance. Jokic looked for his own shot more in the third quarter and appeared on the verge of taking the game over.
The Sixers kept battling, though. Martin impressed again, defending Jokic grittily and driving in for a lefty layup on him. A very tightly guarded Korkmaz three evened the game at 84 apiece.
Reed tied his previous career high of 25 points with a put-back slam early in the fourth quarter. He also hit a career high in minutes played (42), which clearly took a toll in Denver's altitude. After grabbing a defensive rebound in the fourth, Reed signaled to the Sixers' sideline for a timeout.
Fouls continued to accumulate for the Sixers, but the Nuggets failed to fully capitalize. Denver missed 14 free throws in the game, including two straight from Jokic in the fourth quarter.
In the final minutes, the Sixers' collective fatigue grew more obvious.
They admirably made the Nuggets sweat until the final seconds, but the Sixers missed several crucial jumpers, conceded points inside to a forceful Jokic, and came just short of an incredible, extremely unlikely win.
