The Sixers struggled from the opening tip against the Nuggets Tuesday night, falling 124-96 in a game they never led. Playing, let alone winning, in Denver isn’t easy, but in a matchup between the severely shorthanded Sixers team and the nearly healthy Nuggets, the outcome came without much surprise.
After games like this, it’s not uncommon for Tyrese Maxey to suggest the team needs to flush this game and move on to the next. That’s especially true in this case, but there are some things worth taking away.
It stands to reason that in a game where the ultimate aim is to put the ball in the basket, a team that struggles to do so will have a hard time winning. In the modern NBA, the three-point shot is as important as ever, but it remains a struggle for the Sixers.
Philadelphia struggled shooting from the field in general, but they were especially horrendous from beyond the arc, going 9-for-41. The story for most of the season has revolved around the team’s availability issues, but their shooting woes have never been far behind.
Without Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Kelly Oubre, the Sixers are without their three top statistical shooters, minus MarJon Beauchamp, who is knocking down an impressive, but on an extremely small sample size. Without the gravity of those players and especially Joel Embiid to play off of, it’s been more difficult than ever for any player to get off an open three.
Even when healthy, the Sixers do not roster an abundance of shooters, and those struggles have only worsened over this most recent stretch. Even in their recent wins, the Sixers have struggled to shoot, going 3-for-25 against the Nets and 7-for-25 against the Trail Blazers.
These recent games show the extreme, but the Sixers’ lack of shooting has been evident all season and isn’t going away any time soon, much like their defensive struggles.
A shorthanded Sixers team being blown out by a contender like the Nuggets is not surprising, nor is surrendering 124 points to one of the NBA’s top offenses. Still, the team’s overreliance on extreme help defense has caused issues no matter who is on the court, and has only worsened when shorthanded.
Drawing a line to connect the team’s worsening defense to the fact that 80 percent of the team’s payroll is currently sidelined is easy enough, but truth be told, these tendencies are evident even with a healthy lineup, because it’s a feature of Nick Nurse’s scheme.
To Nurse’s credit, the Sixers are among the league leaders in deflections, loose balls recovered and steals. Playing the passing lanes at every, and I do mean every, available opportunity has created turnovers and opportunities to score in transition. Unfortunately, that overly aggressive style has also led opposing teams to a large number of easy shots.
On a team full of lengthy, athletic defenders, as Nurse had in Toronto, the scheme can easily find success, but these Sixers are noticeably different from his championship-winning Raptors. The Sixers simply don’t have the personnel to run such a scheme effectively, and against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, it doesn’t take long to see this strategy's downfall.
Nurse is limited in the adjustments he can make with the players at his disposal, and there is likely no singular adjustment that could have changed the result of this game, but something has to change, though it’s unlikely to in the near future, even with their eventual reinforcements.
The Sixers will next head to Sacramento to face a more evenly skilled opponent, the Kings. Despite holding the worst record in the Western Conference, the Kings are 6-6 in their last 12 games.
Their opponent’s reputation makes this a potential trap game, so the Sixers must do all they can to come prepared. Tip-off is set for 10 p.m. EST on Thursday, March 19.
Unless otherwise stated, all stats included in this article are via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass, Basketball Reference or Team Rankings. All salary information via Spotrac.
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