The Sixers fell a hair shy of pulling off a fifth consecutive win Friday night.
They lost a high-scoring battle to the Nuggets, dropping a 137-134 game at Wells Fargo Center.
The Sixers are now 19-28 overall. Denver is 29-19.
Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with a 42-point, nine-assist performance.
Guerschon Yabusele scored an NBA career-high 28 points on 12-for-17 shooting and Kelly Oubre Jr. put up 27 points.
Nikola Jokic posted 28 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds. Jamal Murray recorded 31 points and 11 assists.
The Sixers still had six players out, including Joel Embiid (left knee injury management) and Paul George (left pinkie finger extensor tendor injury).
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said pregame that George is “day-to-day.” He said the Sixers plan for Embiid to practice Saturday and expect to have a better sense of his status after that.
The Sixers will play the Celtics on Sunday night in Philadelphia. Here are observations on their defeat to the Nuggets:
Jokic and Maxey feature in 1st quarter
Maxey committed three turnovers Friday in under two minutes. Jokic fed Aaron Gordon for a dunk and Nurse called timeout with his team trailing 14-6.
The Sixers faced the same size-related challenges present in their blowout loss last Tuesday to Denver. The Nuggets scored the night’s first 12 points in the paint.
As he routinely does, Yabusele sparked a Sixers run. He hit a wing three-pointer, stole the ball from Russell Westbrook and steamed forward for a coast-to-coast slam. The Sixers soon had their first lead.
Maxey shrugged off his shaky start and found his groove as an isolation scorer late in a 13-point, four-assist first quarter. He passed Kyle Korver for third place on the Sixers’ all-time made three-pointers list.
On the other end, Jokic appeared well on his way to a triple-double with nine points, six rebounds and six assists in the opening period. He casually diced up the Sixers’ defense and caused frequent problems with his transition ventures after defensive rebounds.
Script flips with second-unit scoring
After the Sixers amassed 40-15 bench scoring edge in their win Wednesday over the Kings, the second-unit story was quite different Friday night.
Christian Braun and Julian Strawther combined to make five three-point shots in the first half. Denver scored the game’s first 19 bench points.
The Sixers still managed to stay close in an offense-centric first half. Oubre led a bench-heavy lineup well. He drove and finished forcefully, drew free throws and barely sat. He wound up logging 22 minutes and 29 seconds before halftime.
Every Sixers starter made at least one three-pointer in the first half. Yabusele went 4 for 5 from long distance and Justin Edwards shot 3 for 4.
The points flowed freely on both sides. Unless they turned the ball over, the Nuggets appeared destined to create a high-quality shot. Denver held a 73-69 lead at intermission and shot an incredible 66.7 percent from the floor over the first two quarters.
Back-and-forth action late
Maxey capitalized on Denver’s lax transition defense in the third quarter, converting a layup and then a pull-up three just 18 seconds later.
Yabusele kept on scoring, too. Less than a minute after setting his new career high, Yabusele slammed in a big-time alley-oop dunk off an Edwards lob. On top of the Frenchman’s scoring variety, it was impressive to see Yabusele go at Jokic and grab his chances to either shoot comfortable jumpers or drive past the three-time MVP.
Again, neither defense had much success in the third quarter. A buzzer-beating Ricky Council IV three cut the Nuggets’ advantage to 103-100 going into the fourth period. Council made another corner triple early in the fourth quarter, then swiped a steal from Westbrook and dished to Oubre for a game-tying layup.
Adem Bona played a couple of excellent minutes after a Denver timeout — a dunk, a block, an offensive rebound and ample hustle. Ultimately, the Sixers were down 112-109 when Maxey checked back in with 8:25 left in the fourth quarter.
The Sixers substantially elevated their defensive level for a stretch in the fourth. Kyle Lowry did good work on several occasions against Gordon in the post. Maxey tightly contested jumpers that Murray and Braun air balled.
In the shotmaking department, the Sixers continued to receive plenty of contributions. Eric Gordon drilled back-to-back deep threes. Maxey sliced through the Nuggets’ defense for driving layups, Oubre nailed a corner three and the Sixers took a 128-125 lead.
Jokic and Maxey each starred in an entertaining, back-and-forth final few minutes. Jokic sunk multiple shots that the Nuggets needed, including a go-ahead three with 39.8 seconds remaining. His runner with 12.7 seconds to go gave Denver a 135-132 edge.
Out of the ensuing timeout, Oubre made a put-back layup off a Yabusele miss inside. The Sixers took up considerable time in the process, though.
After two Murray foul shots, Yabusele had to resort to a half-court heave before the final buzzer. It came up short and the Sixers’ 134 points were insufficient for a fifth straight win.
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