By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets faced off again for the second time in two weeks. This time Philly was missing six players and was severely undermanned against a relatively healthy Nuggets squad that was playing with a full deck in comparison. Despite the talent disadvantaged the Sixers made Denver work for it throughout this game. A fourth quarter scoring explosion from Nikola Jokic put the Sixers down 111-105.

When this game was marked on the calendar the idea was to have Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic faceoff within three weeks of each other. Unfortunately for Embiid his sore knee flared up again and he was a late scratch in this game. Despite that the Sixers gave Denver all they can handle, the trio of Paul Reed (30-points), Kelly Oubre Jr. (25-points), and Patrick Beverley (17-points and had 11-assists) combined for 72 of Philly’s 105-points. The Nuggets had no answers for them, they got whatever they wanted against them and imposed their will throughout this game. The only thing that stopped them from pulling this game out for Philly were their shots rimming out. Paul Reed in particular had a career-high and tonight’s game and put Jokic in jail throughout this game making him work for everything. If Reid can play like this throughout the rest of the season on both sides of the ball, then Philly will not need to seek a trade or look at the buyout market for a more viable back-up option behind Embiid. It was not enough tonight but the reserves for the Sixers put on a show tonight and have given Daryl Morey something to think about as the trade deadline approaches.

Despite the scoring explosion from Reed, Oubre Jr., and Beverley, the Nuggets were able to pull this game out thanks to a fourth quarter scoring explosion from Nikola Jokic (26-points and grabbed 16-rebounds.) As the clock went down to the final five minutes he showed up and made the plays that Denver needed to put a game Sixers squad away in this contest. When Jokic decides to impose his will there is nothing any team can do, especially one missing six players. A concern for the Nuggets should be their free-throw shooting and defensive scheme. The only two reasons this game was close is because Denver could not hit their free throws and they could not keep the Sixers out of the paint. If they are going to get back to the finals, they will need to play better defense overall. Paul Reed should not be dropping 30-points on you if the defense was played at a higher caliber that does not happen. Denver will need to fix both of these if they expect to get back to the finals.

The Sixers will now travel to Portland to face the Trailblazers on Monday night. Hopefully they will at least get Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey back for this contest. They will need to play stout perimeter defense to keep the Trailblazers offense in check. Additionally, they will need to keep their ball movement going and hit the high-percentage shots that is created out of the scheme. Now their offense will be better if either Harris, Maxey, or Embiid are able to play on Monday. However, if that does not happen and neither of them can play on Monday the Sixers will need to take and make their shots like they did tonight if they want to have a chance against the young Blazers. If they can implement these things, they should be able to get their 30^th victory of the season.