March 18, 2026
Christopher Hanewinckel/Imagn Images
The Sixers never stood a chance in Denver on Tuesday night.
As if playing a road game in Denver is not challenging enough, on Tuesday night the Sixers went up against a suddenly healthy Nuggets team led by Nikola Jokić, and they did not have much firepower at all themselves.
Within a handful of minutes of the game tipping off, the Nuggets led the shorthanded Sixers by double digits. By the end of the first quarter, Jokić had eight assists and the Nuggets had a 38-22 lead. After two minutes of play in the second quarter, the deficit had ballooned to 21 points. Before the first half was over, the lead reached 30.
The game was never competitive, and it is not as if the Sixers were not trying, though it was clearly apparent to them that they were not going to win the game. There was simply an enormous talent discrepancy on display on Tuesday night. It was the sort of loss that has become strikingly common for the Sixers over the last six weeks; they now have a half-dozen uncompetitive defeats since the beginning of February.
Takeaways from the Sixers' 124-96 loss in Denver, which somehow felt considerably worse than the score would indicate:
It would be reasonable to argue that the Sixers' defense was more problematic than their offense on Tuesday night – at least in the first half – but with the personnel they had this particular matchup presented a nightmare. The Sixers have had games in which they outperform the sum of their parts defensively, including Sunday's win over Portland.
What is more troubling: the Sixers have next to no path to submitting strong offensive performances right now, because they have such little ability to generate good looks at three-point shots. Even during their back-to-back, the Sixers' offense peaked at mediocre. They shot just 3-for-25 from beyond the arc in a win over Brooklyn.
The Sixers' three-point shooting was horrid in this game – they shot 9-for-41 from beyond the arc as a team despite MarJon Beauchamp going 4-for-9 – a continuation of an extremely troubling trend. While the team's pivot from maximizing floor spacing to embracing youth, athleticism and rebounding has gone well – Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker, for example, crushed expectations on their two-way contracts – it has left the team incapable of generating any efficient offense with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George among its many key pieces unavailable. Lately, Barlow, Andre Drummond and Trendon Watford have all been taking threes. That is a nightmarish recipe for the Sixers on the offensive end of the floor.
There are a few decent shooters still available to the Sixers: Quentin Grimes is having a down season from long range but is generally regarded as a quality shooter, Justin Edwards is confident with a quick trigger but has just decent efficiency marks in his young NBA career, Cam Payne can take and make tough shots but has failed to do so since rejoining the Sixers outside of one incredible eruption, VJ Edgecombe has been far more advanced as a three-point marksman than anyone anticipated but is still not someone who puts fear in defenses.
All in all, though, this is a makeshift rotation comprised of several poor shooters or non-shooters, with a few players ranging from decent to good. It is not nearly enough in today's NBA, where weak links are just not guarded and life becomes much more difficult for ball-handlers playing next to them. Most importantly, the Sixers have just one or two players capable of creating advantages off the dribble, which is a prerequisite to getting good looks at threes.
More notes from Tuesday:
• Before the game, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse told reporters from The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Athletic that Embiid joined George on the Sixers' scout team at their morning shootaround, and that after being active there, Embiid went through an individual session that went well. Embiid, whose many absences in Denver have become an odd story, was booed when he arrived on the bench at the start of the second half. He unsurprisingly egged the Nuggets fans on.
• Nurse had 11 players at his disposal, and once again he left no stone unturned. Nurse used all 11 of those options, even the 39-year-old Kyle Lowry. Lowry and Dalen Terry, returning from a one-game absence caused by a shoulder impingement, were the last two players to check in, with Beauchamp ahead of them in the rotation. Beauchamp was the only Sixer to shoot the ball well, and he certainly earned himself another rotation cameo when the Sixers are back in action. Tyrese Martin was inactive as the Sixers opted not to use one of his four remaining games of availability.
• After making some strides operating as a primary ball-handler over the weekend, Edgecombe had a frustrating night in which he shot poorly and was in foul trouble for most of the night. Edgecombe's season-long efficiency marks are going to be hit hard by Maxey's absence.
• If anyone was supposed to benefit from the Sixers' slew of absences, it was Watford, who could more easily slide into his optimal role playing on the ball and creating shots. But lately, his minutes have been quite bad. If the Sixers ever get to full strength again this season, Walker should not be the only forward ahead of Watford on the fringes of the rotation; Edwards has done enough to prove he is also a superior option right now.
• Speaking of Walker: the only player on the Sixers yet to miss time with an illness or injury designation over the first 66 games of the season has now missed three consecutive games due to an illness that reportedly prevented him from traveling with the team to Denver. Walker, who has prided himself on his availability all year long, could rejoin the team before the end of this road trip.
Up next: The Sixers' three-game road trip will head to Sacramento, where on Thursday night the Sixers will face the lowly Kings.
