3 observations after Sixers play their worst defense of season in blowout loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers conceded a season-high 144 points to the Nuggets and concluded their three-game road trip in miserable fashion Tuesday night.
A 144-109 loss in Denver stretched the Sixers’ skid to seven straight defeats.
Tyrese Maxey led the 15-27 Sixers with 28 points and 10 assists. Guerschon Yabusele tied his NBA career high with 22 points.
Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic notched a triple-double of 27 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for the 27-16 Nuggets.
The Sixers’ sidelined players were Joel Embiid (left knee injury management), Caleb Martin (right hip sprain), Kyle Lowry (right hip sprain), KJ Martin (left foot stress reaction) and Jared McCain (left lateral meniscus surgery).
The team has a back-to-back coming up on Friday and Saturday nights: First vs. the Cavs, then at the Bulls.
Here are observations on the Sixers’ blowout loss in Denver:
Transition defense terrible
Paul George, Andre Drummond and Yabusele all returned after missing the Sixers’ loss Sunday to the Bucks.
Eric Gordon stayed in the starting lineup and scored six of the Sixers’ first eight points with a pair of long-range jumpers.
Soon, the team’s transition defense emerged as a gigantic problem. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse called his second timeout after a Jamal Murray layup gave Denver a 23-14 lead. The Nuggets posted 18 fast-break points in under 10 minutes. At that stage, the Sixers had zero.
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Sixers’ transition defense ranked as the NBA’s worst entering Tuesday. (Opponents had added 4.5 points per 100 possessions through transition play.)
Some of the transition struggles can be chalked up to factors beyond the players’ control — an older roster; a deluge of injuries; few chances for a core group to get on the same page about anything. Still, especially in light of all those challenges, the Sixers need to be much better with the basics of hustling back, communicating and limiting the opponents’ easy points.
Trading buckets
Denver also recorded the game’s first six second-chance points and took the night’s first nine foul shots.
Adem Bona’s first-half stint off the bench was brief because of fouling. The rookie big man committed three personals in three minutes.
There was very little to like about the Sixers’ defense. Nurse toggled between schemes in the half court, but consecutive stops seemed rare. The Nuggets’ offense has been one of the NBA’s best this season and it sure looked that way in a 77-point first half. Along with Jokic’s usual dominance, just about everyone else for Denver scored efficiently. Julian Strawther drained four three-point shots in the second quarter.
The Sixers at least managed to trade a lot of baskets. George scored smoothly and made multiple sharp passes, Yabusele tallied 12 first-half points, and Maxey hit a tough finger roll just before the second-quarter buzzer to cut the Nuggets’ lead to 10 points.
The deadline’s nearing …
Denver reassumed clear superiority early in the third quarter and the Sixers showed nothing that indicated an imminent comeback.
Nurse asked for timeout following an Aaron Gordon three against the Sixers’ zone that extended the Nuggets’ advantage to 104-84. Jokic got to watch the full fourth quarter from the bench.
Even with the losses piling up, the Sixers had played rather well for an extremely shorthanded team in a few recent outings. Their overtime defeat to the Knicks was certainly the best performance of the bunch. However, Tuesday’s showing was not the kind of game that suggests the Sixers are destined to chew up ground in the standings and transform from 12 games under .500 to bona fide championship contender whenever more key players return.
All front offices prefer ample opportunity to evaluate their roster at full strength, but the Sixers won’t have that at all this year. The Feb. 6 trade deadline is approaching and the Sixers are short on clarity and sources of positivity.
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