January 05, 2026
PHILADELPHIA – For the umpteenth time over the last 15 months, injuries stood in the way of a fair fight at Xfinity Mobile Arena, with one team close to full strength facing off against another absolutely decimated by high-profile absences. But on Monday, for quite possibly the first time during that entire span, the Sixers found themselves on the favorable end of that discrepancy.
It did not matter.
The Sixers’ winning streak is over after their 125-124 overtime loss to a Denver Nuggets team that utilized a rotation of the only nine players they had available. With only Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford sidelined – head coach Nick Nurse said pregame that both players should be cleared to return "any day" – the Sixers could not beat the Nuggets without Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valančiūnas. It was as catastrophic of a regular-season loss as one can find.
"We need to worry about ourselves," Nurse said before the game when asked how his experiences on the wrong side of these situations could inform how he goes about ensuring that his team would not fall asleep at the wheel. Clearly, they did not do that enough; even with a red-hot three-point shooting night benefitting Denver, the Sixers did not play well enough to beat any NBA opponent despite Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey playing quite well and VJ Edgecombe's continued clutch two-way play giving them a chance at redemption in the form of five extra minutes. But Embiid was whistled for a goaltending violation that sunk the Sixers, with Maxey's attempt at a game-winner missing the mark as the game clock expired.
Takeaways from a late-night Sixers loss that has to be their worst defeat of the season:
Eight days ago, there had only been one time all season in which Embiid played two games in a three-day span. For nearly two months, it was a checkpoint the Sixers had not yet allowed him to reach as they managed not only his problematic left knee, but also his right knee, which has had its own issues dating back to early November.
After Monday night, Embiid has played four games in the last seven days. It is a sudden and stunning turnaround in terms of his availability, and it came at a time when the Sixers' schedule became much more condensed. Even more encouraging than his schedule accelerating: Embiid is playing his best basketball since his infamous torn meniscus suffered nearly two full years ago.
Embiid's continued brilliance in tandem with Maxey was the major reason why Denver's red-hot three-point shooting did not net them any sort of sizable lead during this game. It is fair to point out that Denver's frontcourt rotation was particularly thin in this one; Nuggets starting center DaRon Holmes II was playing in just his seventh NBA game, and Holmes is undersized for a center to begin with.
The argument that nothing concrete can be taken away from Embiid's casual dominance in this one would be stronger if it were not merely a continuation of his standout showings over the course of the last week. Embiid was nominated for Eastern Conference Player of the Week, which was won by Maxey, because he has found his stride offensively. He is playing with intent and aggression, constantly forcing defenses into binds and making the right decisions once those advantages are created. Embiid's passing has been stellar of late on top of the steady scoring, which has been bolstered by his elite foul-drawing.
Until...
Embiid remains very far away from the peak of his powers. Case in point: a largely nightmarish closing effort to this game. Embiid had his worst game of the year with turnovers; a few of them late in the game were puzzling to say the least. For now, it remains unreasonable to set expectations nearly that high. But Embiid has improved leaps and bounds from where he was even a month ago, let alone back in October. That is probably more consequential than any one win or loss, as maddening as this game was for its duration.
On the other hand, Jared McCain spent just about the entirety of December going backwards, and that has only continued since the calendar turned to 2026. Nurse has not just given McCain a longer leash than he had earlier in the season, but made a concerted effort to ensure the 21-year-old plays long enough stints to have a real chance at creating a rhythm for himself. So far, no dice.
McCain scored 20 points in a road win against the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 28, which felt at the time like the punctuation of his breakout. But it has been downhill ever since for the second-year guard: in 15 games in between that performance and Monday's game, McCain topped out at 14 points, shooting 34.8 percent from the field and 29.1 percent on three-point attempts across that span.
It has been more than two weeks since McCain had the "playing brace" removed from his right hand, and much longer since the bulky brace bothering his left knee was lifted. His movement is better than it was when he made his season debut, though still a far cry from where it was during his electric rookie campaign. McCain is not an explosive player to begin with, so his difficulties creating advantages off the dribble are not surprising.
However, many of McCain's long-range misfires have been difficult to explain. He is a brilliant shooter; even now, his pregame shooting routines are sights to behold with very few misses and plenty of gorgeous makes. McCain is a player who makes a tremendous effort to be in tune with the mental aspect of performance, and his confidence is hard to shake. But as McCain continues to show hesitance on spot-up triples – at one point in the first half he got called for an up-and-down on a player where he should have taken a quick-trigger three – it its hard not to think he is in his own head as he tries to find a way out of these struggles.
Up next: The Sixers will be back in action on Wednesday night when they host the Washington Wizards, one of the youngest teams in the NBA, and now a club in the middle of trade rumors surrounding star Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young.
