PHILADELPHIA _ Pardon the cliche, but the 76ers were a shell of themselves.
They were short-handed and sluggish Monday night in a 106-98 loss to the struggling Denver Nuggets at the Wells Fargo Center.
It was a night when Joel Embiid struggled for most of the game. The rookie missed 10 of his first 13 shots. Things were so bad that the 7-foot-2, 276-pounder hit himself twice on the side of the head when subbed out with 8 minutes, 7 seconds remaining.
Embiid salvaged things a little bit by making his next two shots finish 5 for 15 en route to 16 points. He did have a game-high five blocks to go with four rebounds and three turnovers.
But at least he played.
The Sixers were without Robert Covington (left knee sprain, flu symptoms), Jahlil Okafor (gastroenteritis), Jerryd Bayless (left wrist ligament tear), reserve center Nerlens Noel (inflamed left knee), and Ben Simmons (fractured right foot). Noel and Simmons have yet to play this season. Those two along with Covington and Okafor did not travel to Memphis with the team following the game.
On Monday, the Sixers had only 10 available players. Embiid and Richaun Holmes were the only centers. And Embiid's status for the game wasn't officially determined until Monday morning.
That's because he has yet to be cleared to play in both games of back-to-back situations. Embiid would have loved to face the Memphis Grizzlies in Tennessee on Tuesday. However, he and the Sixers felt it was best to play the Nuggets in front of the home fans.
"Playing in front of our fans is really important to us," Embiid said at the morning shootaround. "We've got to win those types of games. So getting a win tonight would be good for us."
Instead, the Sixers (4-17) extended their losing streak to seven games. Meanwhile, the Nuggets (8-13) snapped a three-game skid.
The Sixers' final two possessions were indicative of their night. They had a five-second violation on the next-to-last possession. Then they threw the ball out of bounds. Both possessions came out of timeouts. The Sixers had 17 turnovers.
Denver swingman Danilo Gallinari led all scorers with 24 points. Reigning Western Conference rookie of the month Jamal Murray added 22 points in a reserve role. The Nuggets made 6 of 12 3-pointers in the second half.
Sergio Rodriguez, Dario Saric, and Ersan Ilyasova all had 17 points to lead the Sixers.
