The Philadelphia 76ers are in the midst of the toughest part of their schedule this year; they’re depleted because of injuries and riding a six-game losing streak as they are in Denver on Tuesday night to play the Nuggets. The Sixers will again be very shorthanded without Joel Embiid, KJ Martin, Jared McCain, Caleb Martin, and Kyle Lowry, while Paul George, Andre Drummond, and Guerschon Yabusele all are questionable for tonight’s game, having all missed the loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.
Sixers game information
Who: Philadelphia 76ers (15-26) at Denver Nuggets (26-16)
When: 10 p.m. EST
Where: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Watch: TNT
Latest on the Sixers
The Sixers season keeps slipping further and further away with each game. They’re currently in the middle of a six-game losing streak, and they don’t get a break any time soon with games against the Nuggets tonight, then the Cavaliers, Lakers, and Kings all on the immediate horizon. The Sixers don’t play a team that’s not slated for the playoffs until the Raptors game on Feb. 11th. Things are not looking good for the Sixers this season.
Despite all of his efforts, Tyrese Maxey can’t carry the team on his own. Maxey had 37 points, six rebounds, and seven assists in the loss to the Bucks on Sunday night. Maxey was 14-28 from the floor and 6-15 on his three-point attempts, as it was one of his better shooting games of late. But, the rest of the starting lineup consisted of Kelly Oubre Jr., Adem Bona, Eric Gordon, and Ricky Council IV, who all contributed double-digit scoring, but that’s not the ideal lineup to take on the Bucks or anyone else in the league.
When Justin Edwards, Pete Nance, and Jeff Dowtin Jr. are the entirety of the bench and account for just 20 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists, that’s not a recipe for quality wins over good opponents. While everyone gave a good effort, that’s not enough as the team was missing three critical starters and Yabusele, who played both starting minutes and a key reserve role. The team can’t keep going on like this, or they’ll find themselves too far out of the playoff picture if Joel Embiid is ever able to return.
Latest on the Nuggets
The Nuggets are currently in fourth place in the Western Conference, where everyone is bunched up behind the conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder. Only a seven-game difference separates the second-place team from the 10th-place team in the playoff seeding, and the Nuggets are just two games behind the second-place Houston Rockets in the conference.
Again, the Nuggets are led by Nikola Jokic, who’s just doing what he does every year and averaging 30.1 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 9.9 assists, which is good enough for the top three in the league in each statistical category. As crazy as it sounds, Jokic is once again having the best season of his career. After Jokic, teams still have to deal with Jamal Murray, who’s averaging 20.1 points per game, and Michael Porter Jr., who’s contributing 18.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.v
The Nuggets have been playing some of their best basketball of late and after their top three, the team still has Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon contributing while Russell Westerbrook has grown accustomed to not being the player he once was but is still giving the Nuggets 13.1 points, 5 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game in a reserve role.
What to watch for tonight
The Sixers are definitely without Embiid, Martin, McCain, and KJ Martin, but could see George and Yabusele miss another game while dealing with groin and knee issues. Maxey will look to build on a good shooting night against the Bucks, and hopefully, the starting lineup of reserves can continue to build on the small bits of success statistically they’ve shown over the past few games.
Will the Sixers stick with Ricky Council IV and Kelly Oubre Jr. taking the bulk of the minutes in the front court with Bona, or will they increase the minutes of rookie Justin Edwards? Edwards has shown signs of development and looks to be a steal early in his career. Unfortunately, Edwards has cooled off the past two games, but that’s not to say that he couldn’t get hot enough to grab another 15-20 points for the team.
The Nuggets, while resting in the middle of the league in defensive rating, should give up some points to the Sixers if they can shoot better than they’ve been, but the Nuggets are one of the top offensive teams, and with the number of weapons that they have on the floor at any time, they’ll present a huge problem for a Sixers team that will be missing Embiid and could be missing George and Yabusele.
Only time will tell how the Sixers progress, but with the schedule not getting any easier over the next few weeks, the time is getting close, and they’ll have to make some tough decisions about the roster.
Prediction
Sixers 111 – Nuggets 134
