By: Kylan Watson

After beating the New York Knicks on Saturday night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Denver Nuggets tonight. Both teams were up for this game as they went basket for basket, however the Nuggets were able to close this game late taking advantage of two crucial turnovers by Philly to win this game 125-124 and end Philly’s three game winning streak.

The Sixers came out flat to start this game Denver was able to hit their first few shots and gain confidence early in this game. Jalen Pickett (29 points and hit 7/11 three-pointers in this game), Payton Watson (24 points), Hunter Tyson (21 points) and Bruce Brown (19 points) combined 103 of Denver’s 125 points and the Sixers just could not match up to the effort that they displayed throughout this game. They made enough plays to win this game and made critical baskets in this contest to help Denver steal this game from the Sixers.

Joel Embiid (32 points) and Tyrese Maxey (28 points) combined for 60 of the Sixers 124 points in this contest. They did enough to keep their team in this game and it just was not enough to win this contest against a desperate Denver team. Two crucial late turnovers gave the Nuggets the room they needed to beat Philly in this game. Embiid early in this contest was one of the bright spots in the first half he did all he could to keep Philly in the game. So much so that Denver had to go to a zone defensive scheme and send like four players to him to stop him from being effective in this game.

Once that happened Philly’s offense became too stagnant and the turnovers followed because they forced the ball to Embiid when the better option would have been to keep working it around and create a high-percentage shooting opportunity. Which they did not hit enough of during this game, especially from the three-point line only making 17/45 three-pointers is not a recipe for a victory. Sixers usually shoot way better from the three-point line and their ineffectiveness from three tonight is probably because of tired legs after playing five games in about a week. The first game coming from a long road trip is usually brutal and the Sixers played like a team that was tired.

Despite being tired they had multiple opportunities to win this game and just could not cash in on the opportunities that they created. They were finally able to stop Watson and Pickett and either a turnover would happen or Denver made a great defensive play to stifle the Sixers. For example, Maxey had a golden opportunity to either seal the game or make a pass to a teammate for a high-percentage scoring opportunity, but he lost the ball regained the possession and had to shoot the ball late in the clock and missed sending the game into overtime. Joel Embiid had the chance for a game winning tip-in, but that attempt was blocked. To end the game Maxey had a chance to either make the game winning basket on a lay-up or get a foul call in overtime. Neither of those things happened during that possession which sealed the game for Denver.

Additionally, the Sixers must get their closing rotation figured out, Nick Nurse had been pushing all the right buttons throughout this win streak but made the decision to leave Paul George on the bench in favor of Adem Bona who played great throughout this game. However, Denver went to a zone and shut the paint down and scoring from the free throw line or making crisp passes is not apart of Bona’s game just yet. George should have been inserted because if nothing else he would gain defensive attention and can hit jump shots. Not going to him sooner proved to be a fatal decision for the Sixers because Denver hunted Bona and Embiid and were able to get right to the rim. As soon as Nurse put George back in those opportunities went away for Denver. Nurse and the coaching staff have to choose what the closing line-up will be and stick to it, now it may change with the opposing team but Bona cannot stay in front of the small line-up Denver had out there and having George in there would have been more ideal.

All these factors combined to cost the Sixers another crucial game against a team that was not healthy and did not have four out of five starters available in this game. They will now prepare to face the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, and this is another must have game for them that they need to take full advantage of there are not many must win games this early in the season, but after just having a three-game winning streak snapped this game on Wednesday is a must-win for Philly. They will need to limit their turnovers and create and make the high-percentage shooting opportunities created by their ball movement something they did not do against the Nuggets in tonight’s contest. Implementing these things into their game plan for Wednesday night will put them in great shape to win their 20^th game of the season.