On Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers suffered their most embarrassing loss of the season with a 125-124 overtime defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, who were playing without all five starters, including the recently-injured Nikola Jokic, in this game. The 76ers got strong games out of both Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in this one, but the defense didn't perform well enough throughout the game, and the offense fell apart in overtime, scoring just four points in the extra period.
After the game, head coach Nick Nurse got 100% real on what he felt went wrong in the loss.
“That was a strictly shooting percentage game. We allowed them to really feel good early and it continued just about the entire game,” said Nurse, per Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, the Nuggets enjoyed hot shooting games from several unsung members of their bench, including Jalen Pickett, who scored 29 points on the evening, and Peyton Watson, who poured in 24.
The 76ers have been a hard team to figure out this season. At times, the team has looked like a legit contender in the Eastern Conference, having defeated the New York Knicks on the road on two separate occasions over the last few weeks. The team has also gotten continued strong play out of rookie VJ Edgecombe, who has joined Tyrese Maxey to form one of the most electric backcourts anywhere in the NBA.
However, the 76ers have also been mired in inconsistency, with Joel Embiid continuously in and out of the lineup due to injury, and the team suffering some truly puzzling losses so far this season, including the one on Monday against the Nuggets.
In any case, the 76ers will next hit the floor on Wednesday evening at home for a game against the lowly Washington Wizards.
