Sixers capitulate to Nuggets in lazy, disinterested loss

The Sixers lost their seventh straight game to end a three-game road trip, falling to the Nuggets 144-109 in one of their most indefensible performances of the season. Tyrese Maxey (28 points, 10 assists) and Guerschon Yabusele (22 points) were Philly’s only real positive standouts.

Here’s what I saw.

The good

– The only consolation that can possibly be taken from the rest of this season is to see Tyrese Maxey trying to recapture the form he had in previous seasons. If the Titanic has already hit the iceberg, if all this is redundant heading into the May draw, the hope must be that Maxey will provide hope in the short term, win or lose.

Aided by a stinking Nuggets defensive effort, Maxey had an excellent game against Denver. He would have been forgiven for tired legs and poor results, playing his third game in four nights as the team’s engine while also dealing with the mile-high altitude. But he battled through a woeful shooting start to have 19 points and seven assists by halftime, dicing the Nuggets with speed and control.

I loved seeing some uncharacteristic moves from Maxey in this one. He scored a layup after going left in the middle of the floor before crossing over to get to the rim with his right, which we rarely see from him. Midrange pull-ups were attempted, though success there was elusive, and he put real downward pressure on the Nuggets all night long. Not the kind where he throws the ball against the backboard while falling out of bounds, but with measured pace, stumbles to the paint with his hand hitting the glass mixed in with some nice floaters and runners.

All of this leaves out his passing, which I thought was very good even when it didn’t lead to assists. With the Nuggets doing a poor job of perimeter containment, Maxey did a good job of finding soft spots in the middle of the floor before waiting for the help and firing a pass to the open man when the help came his way. He could have gotten more assists with more help from his shooters, but I was extremely pleased with his vision, aside from one nasty turnover in transition in the first half.

3/10 from three is still 3/10 from three, but otherwise plenty to like.

– I want more for Guerschon Yabusele, the person, than to play this nightmare season in a team that is not on the way fast. If they somehow keep him around for next season, it will be of great benefit to the team, but I kind of feel like they would be taking away a better opportunity by keeping him here through the deadline. He should be on a real-deal playoff team with a chance to earn himself a bag of high-leverage minutes this spring.

Consider this guy’s journey – out of the NBA after an ineffective first stint, slowly rebuilding his reputation with development and production in Europe. And it’s not until he goes on a big run at last summer’s Olympics that Yabusele gets a veteran-minimum contract to return to the NBA, with no promises about his role. All he’s done is keep his head down, work and try to get through this season’s malaise.

He was a breath of fresh air in this one, yelling and moving and trying to get something out of teammates who were half interested in the game. After a two-game layoff, he came back and lit the Nuggets on fire on their home floor, combining catch-and-shoot success with some powerful post moves and drives to the basket. His highlight of the night was another dunk to the wheel, where Jokic fouled him for the and-one:

I will remember your work even if no one else does, bro.

The bad one

– Andre Drummond’s disaster of a season has flown somewhat under the radar due to worse roster issues the Sixers have had to deal with. He hasn’t been good at the main things you expect him to do, and he’s been worse than expected at most other things. Injury complications aside, it’s been a treasure trove of uninspired, unimpressive basketball.

My “favorite” moment of the night from Drummond came when Nikola Jokic essentially conceded a layup to him while standing in cement as Philadelphia’s fill-in starter blew past him. Drummond rewarded the lack of effort by smoking the attempt at the rim, rewarding Jokic for taking the play away. Not exactly the first time he’s done it this season.

– Adem Bona had three fouls and a three-second defensive violation in three first-half minutes. I’m not even mad, it’s impressive.

The Ugly

– Sixers losing games because they don’t have enough talent is one thing. The Sixers losing games because they deliberately gamble on the rest of the season is also understandable at this point. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit here the rest of the year and watch them play this crap, amateur defense in transition. A CYO team would be embarrassed by the effort they have put in in transition of late, and they didn’t exactly blow anyone away with their performance in transition earlier this season.

Denver raced out to an 18-0 advantage in fast break points in the first quarter, and no, that’s not a typo. Anyone exposed to this game was treated to some of the most apathetic possessions of the season, with the Nuggets beating the Sixers to the floor for both initial attempts and rebounds. If Philly was able to get someone back on a two-on-one and gain advantage with a strong contest, you could bet no one else would show up to the tune, leaving a Denver player at the rim to clean up the trash. .

When Nick Nurse was interviewed between the first and second quarters, he told TNT that he believed much of the problem stemmed from their own issues in the transition offense, with Denver capitalizing on Philly’s misses. There was some of that, of course, but this is increasingly a team that doesn’t get their men from The Sixers do. It’s supposed to be some of your best assets, a showcase for your midcourt prowess. Increasingly, these guys can’t be bothered to come back and communicate about these plays.

The Nuggets are a uniquely good team in transition, with willing runners and the game’s best passer in Jokic. But it’s not the highlights that bother you, it’s the plays in between where the pedestrian execution from the opposition leads to a player strolling down the field for an easy two points. Denver went at them again and again, padding their early lead despite their own disinterest in playing defense.

Is there a quick fix for this? I don’t think so. It’s a problem for young guys, a problem for vets, a problem for managers, a problem for supporters. They simply don’t work hard enough to come back or communicate their needs while trying to. In this form, this is not a team with the talent level or the know-how to give away the “effort” points while still maintaining hope that they will win. They should be embarrassed by how awful this is.

– This was, on paper, a decent Paul George game for a half. He was effective offensively, which has been a massive struggle for him this season, which would be taken as a positive sign if it happened in the middle of a normal year. Hey, maybe he could turn the corner or something.

But I think he is the face of one of their main problems. There is no urgency to his game, approach to the season or demeanor on the floor. After a recent loss, George noted that the Sixers will have to play with desperation to turn this thing around. I haven’t seen much of that from him, whether we’re talking about the product on the field or just his desire to play things out and try to lead by example. All year, George has taken a cautious approach, easing into the season rather than trying to stamp his name on it.

Maybe it’s Philadelphia’s fault if they thought they were going to get something different – cool, calm and collected has been his thing for a long time, for better and sometimes for worse. But in a nightmare season that has lacked Joel Embiid’s presence, they’ve been in desperate need of someone who will grab the game and the team by the scruff of the neck in more ways than one. Tyrese Maxey at least tried, regardless of what you think of his success rate. George’s passive approach is almost a statement in itself, as if the season is on its way to him rather than as a product of what he can and cannot do.

Yes, George did a good job, nearly picking up double-digit assists, and yes, it’s hard to get yours when the opposition is selling out to stop you. But I’d almost rather George just jack shots than look at his line at the end of a game and see that he has 11 points on 11 shots. I’d be lying if I told you I felt inspired by this game or this season he’s put on.

When guys like Eric Gordon or Kelly Oubre play terrible transition defense or get killed by back injuries, you can minimize the concern because of their contracts and overall importance to the organization. George, on the other hand, is supposed to be a foundation piece. Watching him float through periods of this game is much more disturbing. And if he’s supposed to be a big part of their solution to winning games without Embiid, someone should make sure he’s aware of that.