Sixers play worst defense of season in loss to Nuggets – NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers gave up a season-high 144 points to the Nuggets and ended their three-game road trip in miserable fashion on Tuesday night.

A 144-109 loss in Denver extended the Sixers’ skid to seven straight.

Tyrese Maxey led the 15-27 Sixers with 28 points and 10 assists. Guerschon Yabusele tied his NBA career high with 22 points.

Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic recorded a triple-double of 27 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for the 27-16 Nuggets.

The Sixers’ sideline players were Joel Embiid (managing left knee injury), Caleb Martin (right hip sprain), Kyle Lowry (right hip sprain), KJ Martin (left foot stress reaction) and Jared McCain (left lateral meniscus surgery).

The team has a back-to-back coming up on Friday and Saturday night: First against the Cavs, then at the Bulls.

Here are observations of the Sixers’ blowout loss in Denver:

Terrible transition defense

Paul George, Andre Drummond and Yabusele all returned after missing the Sixers loss Sunday to the Bucks.

Eric Gordon stayed in the starting lineup and scored six of the Sixers’ first eight points with a pair of long jumpers.

Soon, the team’s transition defense emerged as a gigantic problem. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse called his second timeout after a Jamal Murray layup gave Denver a 23-14 lead. The Nuggets posted 18 fast-break points in under 10 minutes. At that point, the Sixers had zero.

According to Cleaning the GlassThe Sixers’ transition defense ranked as the NBA’s worst entering Tuesday. (Opponents had added 4.5 points per 100 possessions through transition play.)

Some of the transition struggles can be chalked up to factors beyond the players’ control — an older list; a deluge of injuries; few chances for a core group to get on the same page about anything. Still, especially in light of all these challenges, the Sixers need to be much better at the fundamentals of rebounding, communicating and limiting opponents’ easy points.

Trade buckets

Denver also recorded the game’s first six second-chance points and took the first nine foul shots of the night.

Adem Bona’s first half off the bench was cut short due to fouling. The big rookie man committed three personals in three minutes.

There was very little to like about the Sixers’ defense. Nurse switched between arrangements at the halfway point, but consecutive stops seemed rare. The Nuggets’ offense has been one of the NBA’s best this season and that’s certainly how it looked in a 77-point first half. Along with Jokic’s usual dominance, nearly everyone else for Denver scored efficiently. Julian Strawther drained four three-point shots in the second quarter.

At least the Sixers managed to trade a lot of baskets. George scored evenly and made several sharp passes, Yabusele had 12 first-half points and Maxey hit a hard finger roll just before the second-quarter buzzer to cut the Nuggets’ lead to 10 points.

The deadline is approaching…

Denver resumed clear superiority early in the third quarter, and the Sixers showed no signs of an imminent comeback.

Nurse called timeout after an Aaron Gordon three against the Sixers’ zone extended the Nuggets’ advantage to 104-84. Jokic saw the entire fourth quarter from the bench.

Even with the losses piling up, the Sixers had played pretty well for an extremely shorthanded team in the past few outings. Their overtime loss to the Knicks was certainly the best performance of the bunch. However, Tuesday’s showing wasn’t the kind of game that suggests the Sixers are destined to chew up the floor in the standings and transform themselves from 12 games under .500 into bona fide championship contenders once several key players return.

All front offices prefer ample opportunity to evaluate their roster at full strength, but the Sixers won’t have that at all this year. The Feb. 6 trade deadline is approaching, and the Sixers lack clarity and sources of positivity.