Five Observations: Bench play costs Nuggets in crucial loss

The Denver Nuggets’ playoff hopes suffered another blow in Philadelphia on Monday. The 76ers put together a monster second half to come from behind and win 124-103. Here are five observations from the game.

1. Reserves struggle again

The Nuggets trailed by four points when Nikola Jokic went to the bench with 3:01 remaining in the third quarter. By the time Jokic subbed back in with 9:11 to go in the fourth quarter, the 76ers’ lead had swelled to 15. Jokic didn’t do anything spectacular in the game — he shot 4-14 from the field — but Denver’s reserves did little to provide support on one of his rare off shooting nights.

Mason Plumlee fouled three times in his first 5 minutes and 40 seconds on the floor. Devin Harris went 1-6 from the field. Neither Torrey Craig nor Trey Lyles made much of an impact. The Nuggets bench scored 24 points on 9-19 shooting, numbers that would’ve looked even worse if not for some buckets in garbage time.

Denver’s bench looked especially starved for scoring with Will Barton filling in for Gary Harris in the starting lineup.

2. Joel Embiid is something special

There’s no limit to what Joel Embiid can accomplish if he stays healthy. That’s an enormous if. But when he does play, it’s hard to overstate the impact he makes on a game. Embiid’s offensive arsenal is extremely impressive for someone who hasn’t played that much basketball in his life. He’s got ballerina feet and a soft touch.

He’s also a terror on the defensive end. Watch how much ground he covers on this possession in the third quarter before forcing Paul Millsap into an impossible look.

Embiid finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds. He was a plus-20 in 27 minutes.

3. Philly blasts Denver in second half

The Nuggets were in good shape through two quarters. At halftime, they led by eight points. But when the second half started in a must-win game, Denver couldn’t keep up.

The 76ers outscored the Nuggets 35-14 in the third quarter then 38-30 in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia’s starting group of Ben Simmons, J.J. Redick, Robert Covington, Dario Saric and Joel Embiid, which entered the game outscoring opponents by nearly 21 points per 100 possessions, took control and never relented.

Denver shot 14-42 in the second half; meanwhile, Philadelphia went 29-55.

“The first half I thought was a great half for us,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said on Altitude TV’s post-game broadcast. “Then in that third quarter we allowed our offense to dictate our lack offense, our lack of rebounding, our lack of fight. … Tonight was an awful example of us not being disciplined in the second half.”

The loss dropped Denver to 40-34 — 1 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference playoff picture. There are only eight games remaining in the Nuggets’ season.

4. Dominated on the boards

Monday’s game pitted two of the NBA’s best rebounding teams against one another. The 76ers came into the contest ranked first in rebounding percentage, while the Nuggets were not far behind them in fourth. It looked like a pretty even battle on paper, but once the whistle blew Philadelphia dominated.

The 76ers outrebounded the Nuggets 54-37. They grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to the Nuggets’ nine. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons each grabbed 13 rebounds. Paul Millsap and Nikola Jokic collected nine and seven, respectively.

5. Denver doesn’t take advantage at the stripe

On a night when their offense went cold, the Nuggets did a decent job of getting to the free throw line. They took 34 trips to the charity stripe, a mark well above their season average. But Denver had a hard time hitting freebies when it got there, shooting just 21-34 (61.8 percent) overall.

Millsap, who went 6-11 on free throws, struggled mightily. Craig missed both free throws he took. Denver shot 12-22 from the line in the second half.