Nuggets' playoff hopes dealt significant blow in loss to 76ers

Third quarters have treated the Denver Nuggets well this season. On the year, the Nuggets are the league’s third-best third quarter team and have outscored their opponent by an average of 2.4 points per game in the period.

Tonight in Philadelphia, the third quarter was a different story.

The 76ers opened the period on a 20-5 run and immediately took back Denver’s eight-point halftime lead. Philadelphia carried an 11-point lead into the fourth and eventually widened their margin to 20 a few minutes later. The 76ers, who just clinched a playoff spot Sunday, won their seven-straight game 123-104 over the Nuggets whose playoff lives are hanging by a thread.

Philadelphia outscored Denver 72-45 in the second half.

With the loss, Denver falls two games back of the idle Utah Jazz who host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. The Nuggets are two games behind the seventh-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves who host the tanking Memphis Grizzlies Monday night. Denver has a difficult back-to-back Tuesday against the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors.

The Nuggets led the 76ers by four after the first quarter and 59-51 at the half thanks to Will Barton. Barton scored Denver’s first nine points of the game and finished the first half with a game-high 20. But Barton went quiet over the third and fourth quarters. He finished with 25 points on 8-15 shooting and hit five of his eight three-point attempts. Coming into tonight’s contest, Denver had won eight of its last 10 games when he’s scored at least 20 points.

Denver scored just 15 points in the third quarter and wasn’t helped by its performance from the charity stripe. The Nuggets shot 21-34 (61.8 percent) from the free-throw line and hit just 12 of their 22 attempts in the second half.

Paul Millsap, who scored seven of his 16 points in the third quarter, shot 6-11 from the line. Millsap also finished with nine rebounds, three assists and a steal in 32 minutes.

Nikola Jokic scored 14 points on just 4-14 shooting and was bothered by Defensive Player of the Year candidate Joel Embiid. Jokic also registered with seven rebounds and tallied four assists. Jamal Murray finished with 17 points and three rebounds on 7-18 shooting.

Philadelphia’s bench outscored Denver’s 39-24.

Markelle Fultz (shoulder) returned to the 76ers rotation tonight. He had been sidelined since Oct. 23. Fultz finished with 10 points (5-13 shooting), four rebounds and eight assists in 14 minutes.

Philadelphia shot 13-29 (44.8 percent) from three-point range. Dario Saric (20 points), hit three of his seven threes and Robert Covington (18 points) finished 4-8 from distance. JJ Redick went 3-4 from beyond the arc and scored 19 points.

Embiid finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds in 27 minutes. The seven-footer played just 10 minutes in the second half becasue of foul trouble.