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Sixers Blow Another Lead Late in Loss to Nuggets

Eric Mullin|

The Philadelphia 76ers played a real basketball game at 1 p.m. on Saturday. I have no idea why, but it actually happened (I think). Unfortunately playing six hours earlier wasn’t enough to shift the narrative that had been playing out in most of the Sixers’ last eight games or so. The Sixers had a seven-point lead with 6:37 remaining, a five-point lead with 3:24 remaining, but ultimately squandered yet another potential victory in a 108-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

This one may have hurt more than the previous four blown leads because the Sixers had put together a really solid game, rather than using a second half surge to make up for a lackluster first-half performance. The Sixers shot 60% from the field and and 64.3% on nine-made threes in the first half. Denver led by a few points for a good portion of the first half before the Sixers jumped on top 48-47 with 4:37 to go in the second quarter. They then led all the way to the end of the fourth quarter, by as many as 11, before more offensive struggles, coupled with giving up 31 points in the final quarter, plagued them down the stretch yet again.

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Tony Wroten also returned, which was fun at first, but got a lot less fun once it was apparent how rusty he was. Wroten shot 2-7 from the field with 4 points, 3 assists, and five turnovers in 13:02 off the bench.

Player of the Game

Isaiah Canaan– 15 points, 5/9 3PFG

Usually I would go with two players of the game, but I’m just going with one out of appreciation for how well Isaiah Canaan has been playing as an off-the-ball guard. I was one of Canaan’s biggest critics when he was a point guard. It was simply hard to watch him orchestrate an offense when he was unable to effectively run a pick-and-roll, dribble, or get by anyone. With that said Canaan has been playing really well off the ball, because it gives him the ability to focus on the one thing he is good at: shooting. He continued that today by knocking down five of his nine tries from deep. In his last eight games (including today) Canaan is shooting 29-71 (40.8 percent) from three. For a team that is trying to figure out how to play two bigs, who can’t shoot, at the same time, Canaan has a lot of value as a shooter that can create some extra space.

Everyone knows that Canaan is not a point guard. He can’t get to the rim, when he does drive his shot usually gets blocked, and he doesn’t have the vision/passing skills to facilitate an offense. The Sixers tried it with him in the beginning of the season, it wasn’t working, and once TJ McConnell exploded onto the scene it seemed safe to say that Canaan should not be playing anymore minutes at point guard, especially down the stretch. Yet, in today’s game with the score locked up at 102 with 1:26 remaining, McConnell is subbed out without Tony Wroten coming into the game. So the Sixers came out of the timeout with a lineup of Canaan-Stauskas-Covington-Grant-Noel. Here’s what the offensive possession produced:

That’s 100 percent on Brett Brown for putting out a lineup, without a creator, on the court in crunch time.

There were a number of Sixers that had really solid games: Nik Stauskas, Robert Covington, Richaun Holmes, Nerlens Noel, Jerami Grant, JaKarr Sampson. Looking back, this is a game the Sixers should have won, but until they figure out how to execute in the late stages of games they’re going to continue to have these kinds of losses against teams that don’t have a Kobe Bryant to waste offensive possessions with bad shots.

Next: How ReturningPlayers Can Bolster 76ers

Tweet of the Game

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The now 1-20 Sixers have a day off before they face the San Antonio Spurs at home on Monday at 7 pm. Jahlil Okafor is expected to return from his two-game suspension.