Undermanned 76ers catch fire from three, down Nuggets

DENVER — Like they’ve done in each of their five wins since Michael Malone changed his starting lineup eight games ago, the Denver Nuggets eclipsed 100 points. That wasn’t hard, the Nuggets broke the century mark with more than five minutes remaining in tonight’s fourth quarter.

But what’s become a concerning trend, magnified by the lineup change back on Dec. 15, is that Denver isn’t playing any defense. That storyline remained relevant in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 124-122 win over the Nuggets Friday night at Pepsi Center.

“It wasn’t a good night for us defensively they scored 30 or more in every quarter,” Malone said. “124 points for the game.”

In total, Philadelphia shot 16-33 from three-point range. Ersan Ilyasova went 5-6 from distance, Robert Covington followed suit with a 3-6 effort. T.J. McConnell hit all three of his attempts from downtown. Nik Stauskas finished 2-5 from three as well.

“Very few of those 16 threes were due to gameplan,” Malone said. “It was just pour close-outs, poor recognition, not containing the ball, opening up drive-and-kick.”

“You have to run them off the line,” Emmanuel Mudiay said. “We closed out short to some of their best shooters.”

The Nuggets were, however, able to storm back from a ten point deficit over the game’s final 4:20.

Nikola Jokic tied the game at 117 on two free throws with 49 seconds remaining. Joel Embiid, who finished with 23 points on the night, went 1-2 from the line on the next possession to put Philadelphia ahead 118-117.

A Dario Saric steal on Denver’s next possession led to two Embiid free-throws. Then, Danilo Gallinari, who finished with 18 points, scored a quick two followed by two made Covington free-throws with 8.8 seconds remaining.

The 76ers then smartly fouled Mudiay, who helped lead Denver’s charge in the fourth, with 5.5 seconds remaining. Mudiay made the first and missed the second on purpose. Embiid then made both free throws to put Philadelphia up four. A desperation three-point attempt from Jokic with the Nuggets down four missed, but Embiid was called for his sixth foul.

A buzzer-beating Gary Harris tip in on Jokic’s third foul shot barely fell off the rim.

Elsewhere for the Nuggets, Jokic scored a team-high 24 points on 9-13 shooting, including Denver’s first ten points of the night. Harris chipped in 17 and Mudiay scored 22 points on 7-11 shooting.

“I thought our focus in shootaround today was not great,” Malone said. “I think when you win a few games, you start to feel pretty good about yourself and you forget why you’ve been winning games. We’re not a team that can just show up.”

The 76ers only dressed nine players for tonight’s game.