January 27, 2024
Isaiah J. Downing/USA TODAY Sports
Marcus Morris Sr. took charge for the undermanned Sixers in Denver, leading the team with 17 first-half points.
In the second game of their lengthy road trip, the Sixers headed to Denver Saturday evening for a matchup with the reigning champion Nuggets, who the Sixers defeated in an epic clash earlier this month. This time around, though, the circumstances were a bit different – as was the result.
The Sixers fell to the Nuggets, 111-105. Here is what jumped out from the close loss...
Much of the juice was taken out of this matchup when the Sixers ruled out Tyrese Maxey (ankle) and Tobias Harris (illness), in addition to De'Anthony Melton, Robert Covington and Mo Bamba, who had already been deemed unavailable. At least, the basketball world thought, it would see Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic face off once again.
Not so fast!
Just minutes before tip-off, the Sixers ruled Embiid out due to a knee injury. According to reports, the medical staff was concerned after the reigning NBA MVP went through his pregame routine. Embiid seemed to tweak his knee during Thursday night's loss in Indiana but did not miss any time because of it.
The Sixers entered this game about as short-handed as possible – they were not only missing their three best players, but four of their starters and five of their rotation players.
• Star Nuggets guard Jamal Murray got things started early, knocking down three triples to open the game. Patrick Beverley had some pointed comments about Murray earlier this month, and Murray seemed eager to respond.
• Paul Reed was told to pull the plug on his three-point shooting early on in the regular season, but he has shown himself to be capable in the mid-range game, particularly when he faces up at either elbow. Reed knocked down four impressive jumpers in this first quarter alone – it seemed like an out-of-body experience of sorts, but give Reed credit: he works tirelessly on his shot, and early on in this one that work paid dividends.
• Nick Nurse said before the game that Beverley often pleads for more minutes and ball-handling reps. Well, Beverley racked up six assists in the first quarter alone. His offensive revival of sorts in recent weeks has mostly had to do with timely scoring from beyond the arc and on creative floaters and layups. But he led a strong Sixers effort as a floor general frequently operating out of the pick-and-roll.
• Marcus Morris Sr. looked like a vintage version of himself early run this game. Without many other options offensively, the Sixers fed Morris the ball in the high post and allowed him to face up and get to work as a self-creator. Morris hit a flurry of early jumpers as well.
• Beverley got the Sixers organized and moving on offense with his passing in the first quarter. In the second quarter, he got hot as a scoring threat. It is almost hard to imagine this is the same player who struggled so mightily for the first month-plus of the season on that end of the floor, but here we are. Beverley has been playing like an elite two-way role player off the bench for quite a while now. His rotation spot has gone from the most obvious slot to upgrade to one he has solidified as his and his alone.
• When the vast majority of his trusted rotation members are healthy, Nick Nurse's substitution patterns are pretty much set in stone. When the vast majority of his trusted rotation players are not healthy, however, he has to get creative. That is exactly what he did, being extremely liberal with his lineup usage. Nurse relied on several very short periods of rest for his main pieces – Beverley, Morris and Reed in particular.
• The undermanned Sixers were able to post 62 first-half points and enter intermission trailing by just two. Their scoring balance was awfully impressive: Morris scored 17 points, Reed had 14, Beverley had 13 and Kelly Oubre Jr. chipped in with 11. 55 of the 62 points came from the starting lineup -- seven bench points is less than ideal, but not hard to understand given the team's injury situation. But to have such noteworthy contributions from four of five starters -- who combined to make 23 of their 35 field goal attempts in the half -- is a boon.
• Oubre has struggled quite a bit lately, shooting just 42.6 percent from the field in his last seven games (six starts during that span) entering this one. But on a night when the Sixers were desperate for an offensive punch, he had a solid outing. Oubre is still in the midst of a three-point shooting slump, but he was extremely effective inside the arc.
• ESPN televised this game, and their Mic'd Up segment featuring Beverley was fantastic. Take a look at Beverley, on the mic, demonstrating pick-and-roll defense for Reed during a timeout:
coach pat 🫡 pic.twitter.com/QSEbNWglbH
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 28, 2024
• KJ Martin has not had an abundance of chances to prove his worth since being dealt to the Sixers last October, but he has shown more and more in recent games that he has the tools to be a rotation player in this league -- after all, he was for multiple years with the Houston Rockets before being dealt last summer. Martin's ridiculous athleticism makes him an interesting chess piece on both ends of the floor – as it true for many players, how far he can go will likely depend on how much he can improve as a three-point shooter.
• The Nuggets finally began to create some separation early in the fourth quarter, when the Sixers looked like a team that had just run out of gas. Beverley and co. were able to create some good looks from three-point range, but the shots would just no longer fall. Danuel House Jr., who made some standout plays on both ends of the floor in this one, had a few particularly tough misses from beyond the arc in the early portion of the final period.
• Down to their final breaths, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse got creative and brought Martin back into the game to defend Jokic. Martin is certainly not sized anywhere near the two-time MVP and reigning NBA Finals MVP, but he is athletic enough and strong enough to make him work. When it comes to a player of Jokic's caliber, sometimes that is enough.
• The Sixers kept fighting, even tying the game with as little as 4:30 left on the game clock, but eventually, Jokic and the Nuggets were able to pull out the important run they needed – aided by some Embiid-esque foul-baiting. Make no mistake about it, though: this was an absolutely terrific effort from the Sixers, as valiant of a performance as you will find from a team missing four of their starters. Professional athletes and coaches love to opine about there not being any moral victories. But sometimes it is okay to say: this does not feel like a loss.
