Six nuggets for six JJ Redick treys in a 117-110 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
1. The Nuggets are limping into the All-Star Break. A four-game road trip that started out with a dramatic win in Minnesota — clinching Michael Malone’s coaching spot in Charlotte — ended in three straight defeats at Detroit, Brooklyn and Philadelphia. The Nuggets showed a little more fight Friday than they did in their two previous losses but still came up short.
The Nuggets are second in the West despite being one of the most banged-up teams in basketball. All the bumps and bruises are finally catching up to them, though. Gary Harris missed his fifth straight game with a strained adductor. Paul Millsap missed his fourth consecutive game with a tweaked right ankle.
Denver, which faces Miami and Sacramento next week before the break, desperately needs the time off to get healthy. Malone’s club is in a great spot, recent rough patch and all. Locking up home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs should be their No. 1 priority down the stretch. The sky isn’t falling. Denver just needs to regroup.
2. JJ Redick is one of the best 3-point shooters ever. Over his 13-year NBA career, Redick is hitting 41.2 percent on nearly five 3-point attempts per game. Sticking close to him while he’s lurking on the perimeter should be a foregone conclusion. Should be. Denver learned the hard way Friday what happens when you’re only vaguely aware of where he is on the court.
Redick got way too many open looks for such an established marksman. He connected on 6 of 7 3-point looks on his way to a game-high 34 points. He gave Denver the most trouble of anyone in Philadelphia’s new-look starting lineup, which features him next to Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid.
3. Defensive shortcoming kept the Nuggets out of the playoffs the two seasons before this one. They finished 29th in defensive efficiency in 2016-17 and 23rd in 2017-18. They spent the early part of this year in the top five. Now? They’ve tumbled all the way to 14th. Denver’s failure to stay in front of Simmons led to what was effectively a game-sealing dunk.
Millsap and Harris, arguably the team’s two best defenders, have missed considerable time. That hurts. The Nuggets have also had a tough time defending the 3-point line the last two months. Opponents are shooting 37.5 percent from 3 against Denver since Dec. 5, the fifth-highest mark in the league over that stretch. Philadelphia shot 45.4 percent from deep Friday.
4. It’s hard to win when you lose the battle at the 3-point line and free-throw line. Philadelphia made 10 3s to Denver’s six. The disparity at the charity stripe was even more lopsided, as the 76ers knocked down 29 of 32 freebies while the Nuggets went 12 of 13. Hard-charging Jimmy Butler (14 for 14 on FT) got to the line one more time than the entire Nuggets roster.
5. A silver lining: Nikola Jokic won the battle against Joel Embiid. Yes, Embiid wasn’t 100 percent; he was a game-time decision after reportedly having issues keeping food down. But Jokic clearly outplayed his Team Giannis teammate. Jokic had 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists — his 11th triple-double of the season. He also did a nice defensively, limiting Embiid to a 4-of-17 shooting performance.
6. Ben Simmons doesn’t shoot 3s unless it’s an end-of-quarter heave against the Nuggets. Philadelphia’s jump-shot-allergic forward has attempted only two 3-pointers all season. Both prayers have come in the last two weeks. Simmons still hasn’t made a 3-pointer in his career. His trey Friday clanked off the left side of the rim.
