Players of the Philadelphia 76ers celebrate their win over the Denver Nuggets in the game at the Wells Fargo Center, December 10, 2019.
The Philadelphia 76ers continued to defend their perfect home record as they defeated the visiting Denver Nuggets 97-92 at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday. This victory also extended Philadelphia's win-streak to 13.
Both teams were struggling offensively in most time of the game, partly thanks to their impressive defense and partly because of their defected franchises. Joel Embiid though dropped 22 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the 76ers, his team actually had the smoothest offense when he was not on the court. In the third quarter, coach Brett Brown put Embiid on the bench and four shooters around Ben Simmons before the 76ers regained the lead with a 13-2 run.
Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets lie on the floor in pain in the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center, December 10, 2019.
Denver's offense was also awkward but in a different way. Their best perimeter player Jamal Murray was taken out after five minutes into the game thanks to a collision with Simmons and that left Nikola Jokic the only offensive core of the Denver. Though Jokic did a good orchestrating job, as he always could in the third quarter, to lead a 12-0 run by his team, he did not force his way into the paint like Embiid – he failed to strike the opponents where it hurts the most. As a result, when Philadelphia put up tougher defense and the rest of the team could not reply to that in the fourth quarter, Denver fell into scoring drought and watched the opponents expand the lead point by point.
Tuesday's game revealed that both the problems with the offense of the 76ers and the Nuggets have a lot to do with center posting up. On the 76ers' side, Embiid loves working under the rim – he tries an average of 7.6 posting ups per game, the most in the league. Sure he can put down some really good numbers in front of centers who are smaller than him, but he still struggles when he's taken over by big men with strong lower bodies like Marc Gasol or Jokic.
Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers holds the ball against the defense of Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets in the game at the Wells Fargo Center, December 10, 2019.
Moreover, Embiid's playstyle may not be the best option for his team. Philadelphia have Simmons, one of the best fast break launchers in today's NBA, but cannot focus on speeding up all the time because they have to wait for Embiid to compete for position under the rim. Besides, Simmons' lack of shooting range means he won't be able to be on full power as long as he has to share both the ball and the space with Embiid.
Denver's problem with Jokic, by contrast, is that the Serbian big man does not work enough in the paint. Having averaged four posting ups per game so far this season, Jokic got less than 0.9 points every time, not to mention that he's growing more and more unwilling to tussle with the opponents in the paint.
Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets shoots the ball in the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center, December 10, 2019.
This hurt Denver's offense painfully. When Jokic stays away from the rim, his offensive rebounding is affected and so is his general offensive efficiency, thanks to his worsening shooting, both in the middle range and from the 3-point line. If the team wants to find their impressive offense of last season back, coach Mike Malone will have to find better motivation than cola to lure Jokic back to the paint.
Heat breaks multiple records in win over Hawks
Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat celebrates in the game against the Atlanta Hawks at the American Airlines Arena, December 10, 2019.
The Miami Heat claimed a valuable overtime victory of 135-121 over the visiting Atlanta Hawks at the American Airlines Arena. What's even better than the win was that the players of the home team broke a series of records.
Jimmy Butler scored a triple-double of 20 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists – 18 rebounds were his career high.
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates in the game against the Atlanta Hawks at the American Airlines Arena, December 10, 2019.
Bam Adebayo also got the first triple-double in his career by dropping 30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. 11 assists were his career high and he broke Dwyane Wade's record to become the youngest player in Heat's history to have a triple-double.
Butler and Adebayo also became the 10th pair of teammates in NBA history to get triple-doubles in the same game.
Kendrick Nunn #25 and Duncan Robinson #55 of the Miami Heat in the game against the Atlanta Hawks at the American Airlines Arena, December 10, 2019.
Miami's two undrafted rookies, Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson together scored 70 points in Tuesday's game. Nunn got career-high 36, which's both the highest points of all rookies this season and the second-highest for rookie in franchise history.
Robinson buried 10 3-pointers to get 34 points, both career highs of him. He also became the third player in the league's history to make at least nine 3-pointers in two games in the first two seasons of his career, after Ben Gordon and Devonte' Graham.
Vince Carter of the Atlanta Hawks shoots the ball in the game against the Miami Heat at the American Airlines Arena, December 10, 2019.
One thing that may make the Hawks feel better was that 42-year-old Vince Carter played his 1500th regular season game in his career – only five have ever done that: John Stockton (1,504), Dirk Nowitzki (1,522), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,560) and Robert Parish (1,611).
Other games on Tuesday included (home teams in bold):
Washington Wizards 107-114 Charlotte Hornets
New York Knicks 87-115 Portland Trail Blazers