Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Philadelphia 76ers head to Denver to face the Nuggets but won’t have Joel Embiid in the lineup. Unfortunately for fans hoping to see Embiid and Jokic face off in the Mile High it won’t happen, as it has not since 2019. Embiid is out with knee swelling after an ankle injury kept him off the court for several games earlier, and he’s not the only player banged up or missing from the Sixers lineup entirely as the short-handed Sixers have lost six in a row. Denver is still nursing some injuries but they should have a full complement of rotation players available and it will be up to them to take this game seriously and hand the battered Sixers a defeat as the Nuggets look to keep the winning streak from their quick Florida road trip rolling at home.
The Essentials
Who: Philadelphia 76ers (15-26) vs Denver Nuggets (26-16)
When: 8:00PM MST
Where: Ball Arena, Denver CO
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy. TNT. Altitude 92.5 FM. Show up with balloons of sadness for Embiid missing yet another game in Denver.
Rival Blog: Liberty Ballers
Injury report: Jamal Murray – probable (calf tightness), Peyton Watson – probable (head contusion), Vlatko Cancar – out (the worst luck ever and also knee surgery), DaRon Holmes II – out (Achilles); Paul George – questionable (groin), Guerschon Yabusele – questionable (knee), Andre Drummond – questionable (toe), Joel Embiid – out (knee), Caleb Martin – out (hip), Kyle Lowry – out (hip), KJ Martin – out (foot)
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: What is Philly’s plan to stop Denver?
Embiid is not ducking Denver – his legs just can’t hold up to an NBA schedule. But without Embiid, Philly loses a key component to matching up with Nikola Jokic’s size and skill inside. Adem Bona is a nice rookie, but he fouled out in 24 minutes against Giannis in Philly’s blowout loss to the Bucks, and Jokic is not any easier an assignment. Drummond is questionable with a toe issue, not that he can really defend Jokic either but his size and knack on the boards has caused Denver’s reserves trouble in the past. Gershon Yabusele, another stout front-court player is hampered by a knee issue.
All of those guys together are gonna be several houses of straw attempting to withstand the big bad wolf if Jokic sets up on the block with the mentality to score, and assuming his elbow is feeling better there is no real reason to assume he won’t. Jamal Murray is dinged up and with him having to chase Maxey around this is a good excuse for the Nuggets to put their MVP strength against the obvious gap in Philadelphia’s defensive options. Jokic has gotten a pair of triple-doubles in just three quarters this week – hard to see him not taking a swing at a third.
The thing to remember: Tyrese Maxey will be a tough stop
Denver has played down to injured competition before (New Orleans anyone?) so keeping the Sixers away from what they do well is important. Philadelphia will be on its third road game in four nights and finishing that streak a mile high gives Denver a big advantage if they are willing to play defense and run in transition like they have been. Breaking teams at altitude is fun, but Maxey is the kind of quick guard with a scoring touch that gives Denver fits without KCP around. Christian Braun and Peyton Watson have defensive skills but staying in front of slashing scorers is not on the menu unfortunately, and Russell Westbrook is “42 years old” as coach Michael Malone gently ribbed the other night in the locker room. The key to stopping the Sixers is for Denver to get out to a good start themselves and to not let the Sixers get downhill at them. Philadelphia is good at getting to the line after getting fouled on their way to the rack. They don’t pass, they don’t rebound, they don’t have a shot-blocker and they are not a high-powered offense. They don’t shoot threes and when they do they are bad at it, and it has been absolutely rough for them recently with all the missing bodies to get any kind of consistency.
If the Nuggets close off Maxey and don’t foul shooters they should be able to salt this game away and keep climbing their way up the spots in the West.
The thing to bet: Jokic triple-double
The spread is -13.5 – everyone expects the Nuggets to obliterate this short-handed Philly team. To be fair, every win the Nuggets have since before Christmas has been by double digits, so they’ve been obliterating lots of people when Jokic is out there. The under on the game is 229.5, and with Philly’s struggles on offense that seems legit, but Denver might put up 130 again just by themselves – they’ve been boat-racing people. So just put some money on another Jokic triple-double, that’s more fun and we all like history.
