**ESPN:** [recap](https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401468896) – [boxscore](https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401468896) – [gamecast](https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401468896) | **NBA.com:** [boxscore](https://www.nba.com/game/0022200741) – [shotchart](https://www.nba.com/game/0022200741/game-charts)
||**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Final**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|**38**|**35**|**26**|**20**|**119**|[](/DEN)|
**PHI**|**29**|**29**|**38**|**30**|**126**|[](/PHI)|
**Team**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
[](/DEN)**DEN**|**44-81 (54.3)**|**14-34 (41.2)**|**17-20 (85.0)**|**6**|**36**|**28**|**14**|**6**|**6**|**14**|**119**|
[](/PHI)**PHI**|**46-89 (51.7)**|**18-35 (51.4)**|**16-24 (66.7)**|**12**|**39**|**31**|**11**|**10**|**2**|**15**|**126**|
**[](/DEN)DEN**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
M. Porter Jr.^^SF|28:31|7-11 (63.6)|5-9 (55.6)|1-1 (100.0)|0|6|0|0|0|0|2|20|+8|
A. Gordon^^PF|29:23|8-10 (80.0)|0-1 (0.0)|2-4 (50.0)|1|5|3|0|0|0|1|18|+5|
N. Jokic^^C|38:19|8-12 (66.7)|2-2 (100.0)|6-6 (100.0)|1|8|9|7|0|2|2|24|-1|
K. Caldwell-Pope^^SG|33:40|3-8 (37.5)|2-4 (50.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|5|4|0|3|0|2|8|+5|
J. Murray^^PG|38:48|7-16 (43.8)|2-7 (28.6)|6-7 (85.7)|1|4|6|4|1|0|3|22|-14|
B. Brown|21:53|3-8 (37.5)|1-3 (33.3)|0-0 (0.0)|1|4|3|2|0|1|2|7|-9|
B. Hyland|21:08|4-10 (40.0)|1-6 (16.7)|2-2 (100.0)|0|1|2|0|1|2|1|11|-11|
J. Green|18:37|2-3 (66.7)|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|1|1|1|0|0|1|4|-12|
Z. Nnaji|9:40|2-3 (66.7)|1-1 (100.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|2|0|0|1|1|0|5|-6|
**Totals**||**44-81 (54.3)**|**14-34 (41.2)**|**17-20 (85.0)**|**6**|**36**|**28**|**14**|**6**|**6**|**14**|**119**||
**DNP:** ***Christian Braun***, ***Vlatko Cancar***, ***DeAndre Jordan***, ***Davon Reed***, ***Ish Smith***
**Inactive:** ***Collin Gillespie***, ***Peyton Watson***, ***Jack White***
**[](/PHI)PHI**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
T. Harris^^SF|32:13|6-10 (60.0)|2-4 (50.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|6|2|1|1|0|2|14|+3|
P. Tucker^^PF|24:28|1-4 (25.0)|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|1|1|0|1|0|4|2|-1|
J. Embiid^^C|37:53|18-31 (58.1)|4-7 (57.1)|7-10 (70.0)|6|18|5|6|3|2|2|47|+14|
D. Melton^^SG|22:45|4-8 (50.0)|3-5 (60.0)|2-2 (100.0)|1|2|2|1|2|0|3|13|-12|
J. Harden^^PG|35:47|5-10 (50.0)|3-6 (50.0)|4-6 (66.7)|1|4|13|0|0|0|1|17|-3|
M. Harrell|10:07|1-1 (100.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|0|0|0|0|0|2|2|-7|
T. Maxey|30:31|4-11 (36.4)|2-5 (40.0)|3-6 (50.0)|0|3|6|2|0|0|1|13|+14|
S. Milton|15:26|1-3 (33.3)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|2|2|0|0|0|0|2|+5|
G. Niang|18:37|5-9 (55.6)|4-7 (57.1)|0-0 (0.0)|0|1|0|1|0|0|0|14|+12|
M. Thybulle|12:13|1-2 (50.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|2|2|0|0|3|0|0|2|+10|
**Totals**||**46-89 (51.7)**|**18-35 (51.4)**|**16-24 (66.7)**|**12**|**39**|**31**|**11**|**10**|**2**|**15**|**126**||
**DNP:** ***Danuel House Jr.***, ***Furkan Korkmaz***, ***Paul Reed***, ***Jaden Springer***
**Inactive:** ***Julian Champagnie***, ***Louis King***
||**PITP**|**2^^nd PTS**|**FB PTS**|**BIG LD**|**BEN PTS**|**TOT TOV**|**TOV PTS**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|52|12|15|15|27|14|11|[](/DEN)|
**PHI**|48|14|20|8|33|11|22|[](/PHI)|
**Lead Changes: 2** | **Times Tied: 5** | **Gametime: 2:19** | **Attendance: 21255**
*Officials: Brian Forte, John Goble, Dedric Taylor*
by BigHoneyBot
50 Comments
Most people that coach-blame constantly are just too biased in favor of their favorite team that they can’t understand the possibility that players they like could just be bad / play bad. That’s what I’ve found is the case, at least.
At least Michael Malone had 5 players on the court at all times 🤷♂️
Ok.
First, I think the time has come to kill the 3 guard lineup + the Jamal/Bones lineup. There’s basically no point to it. If there was at least load management for Jamal in there, sure, but he just plays more and consistently has (-)ve plus/minus.
Second, the nine-man rotation is bad for the regular season. Switch it back to 10.
Third, bring back Vlatko as there’s no point in kicking him out of the rotation after all this chemistry building up. Jeff is too old. Vlatko can do everything Jeff can, but he can also shoot and defend way better + younger.
Fourth, for god’s sake run some plays for MPJ. It’s a trend that he consistently doesn’t contribute late in the game, and not due to his fault because they run the Jamal/Jokic 2-man, which isn’t bad, but use MPJ too for fucks sake. Malone needs to start doing this, MPJ is too good to pass him up in the clutch. It’s a tragedy.
Fifth, AG freethrows.
Now I’m off to not caring about NBA for a bit until this blows over cuz it’ll be insufferable otherwise.
Embiid played great so you gotta give him credit.
Bruce Brown’s idiotic foul at the end of the half made a difference.
Not sure why Malone kept Porter out so long. And I am a Jeff Green fan but he was a liability out there.
Bones 1-6…dude…come on look for open cutters.
Doc Rivers is a bad coach but they did make an effective adjustment at half time to take away the Gordon cuts to the basket. They shut that down and the Nugs were kind of lost without it.
Whatever, the Nuggets got outplayed. Hopefully they can learn from it.
It sucks that we are all so vested in this debate and Jokic does not even care. He didn’t even want to try in the second half. He had tucker and didn’t even try to score Most of the time. He was the best player in the court at HT and then just gave up.
Very disappointed but we move on.
Would have been cool to run like literally any offensive sets in the second half.
Credit to Embiid in the 2nd half, always played the pass and turned wide open layups into turnovers from Jokic.
Niang’s toss up 3 going in was brutal, 2nd unit was playing great D in the 4th and fell apart after that moment.
Confident Jokic will learn from how he was defended and be better moving forward. That’s why we play these games, to get better.
[Christian “Collin Gillespie” Braun](https://imgur.com/a/srdOcFK)
Guys it’s ok to say Embiid out played Jok today, it is what it is. Joker’s got nothing to prove but today was definitely a miss for him, he needs to be more aggressive shooting 12 times isn’t gonna cut it in a game like this.
Now that Embiid won 2023 MVP, Jokić can concentrate on winning championship
Whats our record against above .500 teams this season?
I think Bones will be a solid NBA starter in the league in due time but I think we gotta save this team from itself by moving him so that he doesn’t play in lineups with Murray or Brown.
Anyone wanna talk about being held to 20 points in the fourth? WTF?
Love Jok but he really has to work on his feeling for when it’s time to turn it up and take over. He waited until the last 3 mins in this game.
Embiid just punched the team in the mouth, can’t hate honestly. Short term memory onto the next one.
The Joker has to be ready for the hackfest come playoffs. That Napoleon dude they had guarding him in the 4th quarter was fouling him every play. He’s not going to get that call; he didn’t get it in 2020 against L.A. either. He has to play through the contact and get buckets. In the playoffs, I think he will. Don’t forget that today was just a regular season game.
If anything this game proves the nuggets need to make a move at a big who can bang down low with other elite bigs. Idk who that guy is but if the nuggets are going to win a championship, they need a tall and long rim protecting center. Embiid killed the nuggets when Jokic went out in the 1st half. Bones continues to hurt more than help when his 3s aren’t falling. Would’ve liked to see Bruan play more, he plays the role better and more consistently I think.
James and Joel were fantastic and credit to them for showing up big time.
It was a decent shooting showing from some of the guys and so the minute distribution seemed weird in the end. Would’ve loved to have seen Vlatko instead of Jeff at this point, AG and MPJ could’ve played some more minutes. That said, Jok should’ve been more scoring oriented, even if he was to take and miss a lot of shots, just take them. But alas.
To quote Magic Johnson from the ’92 scrimmage: “You gotta get him back” – at least guys know they need a huge statement game in Ball arena in March and hopefully they give them the fits in home turf.
Posting the survey link again! https://forms.gle/Ke27csydUHTEP2Up8
I’m low key worried about Jokic’s defense against pick and pop 5s like Embiid
Even Myles Turner was giving him fits earlier this season
Alright, now that I got my aggression out at the gym, this loss is whatever. It’s hard to win on the road against good teams.
Still frustrating, still grumpy that somehow Jeff green got 18 minutes and MPJ got under 30 minutes.
If we play them in the playoffs somehow, I trust Jokic will make the adjustments and dominate.
People calling Niangs 3 a fluke but watching the replay, Zeke got lost on that possession so not really.
The FO should bind coach Adelman with some form of a long term contract that he can’t refuse, I am worried that some up and coming team might poach him away from the Nuggets like they did to all of our other coaches and we will be left with Malone again unfortunately.
Weird loss, felt like the sixers barely stuck around. More us imploding and some great stuff by Embid at the end. We move onto the next one
I’m not even gonna look at what you guys cooked up.
The worst kinda loss to have and I hope they just learn from it. Including Jok. Rough toad trip but understandable with the injuries, let’s get the mood up at home!
I’m pretty sure a sign of a contender is regularly beating good teams on the road too. We got lots of work to do.
I’ve seen posters defend it but not really give a reason.
Do you believe that the Murray-Brown-Bones lineup should see minutes in the playoffs? What do you like about it?
All of my Nugget gear is bad luck, I will never wear Nugget attire on game day again. Put the loss on me.
Jamal Murray is going live…
Famous last words
Don’t complain man this is an anomaly
Explains why it’s not anomaly
Brian shaw yada yada 1st in west.
Ok why bother coming to a message board lol
Would trade 5 Jokic assists for 5 more FGAs from him. Nuggets would be a way better team.
i don’t think this loss is that bad. Painful yes but self inflicted, we weren’t outclassed. How we respond will say a lot.
I was actually thinking that as Jeff Green doesn’t get rebounds or shoot 3s anyway, that you might as well run w 4 guard lineup with Christian Braun
I literally give zero fucks about mvp we know Jokic and Jamal both times in playoffs in 2019 and 2020 elevate their games to next level a championship is all we should care about
Why does Malone say he need to play Christian Braun and then don’t play him? Why does he instead play a 3 guard lineup? We don’t deserve this ridiculousness man we don’t, we’re for once healthy
Didn’t get to watch. Did we have a chance at the end? Did we look good at least?
76ers fans are trolling hard right now on the nuggets Twitter. They’re acting like they just won the finals 🤣 what a shitty fan base
Man…I finally forced myself to watch the Tyre Nichols video, knowing that I am going to hate every second. Truly disgusted right now, and really hoping Tennessee doesn’t let the world down and let these fucks off with anything less than life in prison. This shit isn’t going to stop happening until cops are actually held accountable….
Hopefully they finally fire Malone when he loses in the first round. Need to trade Murray and MPJ ASAP! Dudes are too soft. Jokic is too. STOP LOOKING TO PASS!! Cant win games when you’re looking to your lesser teammates to make a difference, because they never will.
I truly believe Niang doesn’t go off if Braun was guarding him today.
If you had to build a perfect Malone player in a lab, you would get Christian Braun.
His lack of minutes is a truly bizarre thing. And we know Malone is a stats guy, he definitely knows that the Nuggets are undefeated or close to that when Braun plays 20 minutes.
Wonder if it is non basketball reasons on why he’s not playing.
I think tonight was the first time Jokic has ever gotten booed during pre introductions, maybe that messed with him mentally tonight
So what does the team do now? Clearly in a slump. Lost 3 of 4. Just not playing well at all.
We have a lead in the west but as many teams have realized , you can drop in the standings very fast in the west this year.
Schedule also doesn’t get easier: pelicans. Warriors. Hawks. Timberwolves (b2b of course). None are as good as the sixers but all of them are solid teams. No easy games coming up.
This could get quite ugly. 9 games until the ASB. gotta somehow get 5 wins.
My unsolicited thoughts on the game:
1. Malone should have rode the lineup we had when on that win streak. Jeff coming back ruined that momentum. And if his ego is the reason why Malone is not benching him, he needs a reality check. Like DJ, his bench minutes should not be guaranteed.
2. I don’t see a Jamal/Bruce/Bones lineup working longterm especially in the playoffs. An undersized 6’4″/6’4″/6’2″ guard lineup is just begging to be killed on the court.
3. MPJ has always been amazing on his first day back from break. Preseason. That Utah game after missing the Lakers, Blazers game when he came back, even today. His presence immensely helped the team’s offense and we’re back to shooting 50/40. Might be an unpopular opinion here, but he is the 3rd best Nugget on the team and should be more involved in their sets. Give him props for being a team player and not being a headcase.
4. Jokic should be held accountable for being too passive and as much as it hurts to say, he is a big part of the loss. He let his emotions get to him when he was getting hacked without calls. He has to accept that not everything is fair and he has to play through contact. Also, I don’t care if his stats dip but he needs to shoot the damn ball and take over.
5. With Jamal leading the bench, I feel like Bones lost his identity and the rumors of him being unhappy might be true. I think Bones came into the season thinking how seamless it would be to be the bench PG and he’s probably one of the guys Malone was alluding to who was confident his rotation was secure. And while Bones has a high upside, his liability on the floor is equally glaring. I can see why Calvin would explore his trade market value.
6. It won’t happen but I want to see Malone make bold decisions and try to bench Jeff and Bones next game for CB and Vlatko. Jamal/MPJ or Jamal/KCP stagger to inject offense. Malone’s afraid of hurting their feelings and it’s clearly affecting the team’s potential.
Anything interesting said in the post-game presser? Or standard company lines?
bones sucks
a nice quote from the sixers sub, not sure if its meant to be ironic:
“The nuggets post game thread is pure entertainment right now.
You really got grown men commenting on Reddit constantly, every fucking day (not just today) about how fans from other teams bother them with comments on the internet.
Those people need therapy so damn badly, its pathetic.”
This team has to learn how to deal with leads at half time. Happens almost every time where there is a nice half time lead and it just slowly bleeds away like with the pelicans. Got “lucky” with building back up to 15, but what’s the point if it literally disappears in 2 minutes. Someone here mentioned how Malone makes adjustments game to game, but he and the coaching staff got to recognize a very obvious adjustments made by the other team and have a counter. Like if Embiid is guarding AG, have AG bring it up and initiate the offense by feeding it to Jokic. Embiid wants to be near the paint, take him out of it. And if they double Jokic before the post entry, AG should be able to get to the rim and cause havoc. Also, don’t say Embiid made tough shots, cause while he did, his shot was not affected really in the 4th quarter. I don’t think teams get more physical with us, it’s just we have no idea how to handle their adjustments. By playoffs, obviously they’ll scout their opponents, but please be prepared to counter possible adjustments
Jok had some bad turnovers but dont act like we wouldnt all be shitting ourselves if Jokic took less than 15 shots to beat the sixers
I was at the game, sucks to lose but it was fun to watch two good teams go at it.
Embiid should be the MVP favorite after this game. We have to be fair about this. I know it’s one game but he went up against his arch rival and dominated the game. Respect to him. BUT, the season is not over yet. Jokic has to have a big game against him when he plays him on March 27 in Denver.
Jokic could’ve had a big game today but only shot 12 times. It doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe the injury was an issue? I don’t know…all I know is I don’t like passive Jokic. I feel like if Jokic was aggressive tonight, Denver would’ve won. Since Jokic wasn’t, they lost. Simple as that.