The Philadelphia 76ers are at the end of what has been an absolute marathon month to kick off 2025, looking the best they have all season.
The Sixers will continue their homestand on Friday night hosting the Denver Nuggets to finally cross the finish line on January, a month of 17 games and five back-to-backs. It’s been an up-and-down experience to say the least, but what hasn’t been for this Sixers team this season? From Joel Embiid’s injury update that has kept him sidelined the majority of the month to a seven-game losing streak, things were looking desperate and grim just about a week or so ago.
To close the month, however, has been a bit of a turnaround for Philadelphia. Nick Nurse’s squad is currently on a four-game winning streak that has seen the shorthanded Sixers defeat the likes of the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and the LeBron James’ led Los Angeles Lakers.
Tyrese Maxey is playing his best basketball all season, currently on a 12-game streak of scoring at least 25 points per game — he scored over 30 in seven of those contests and dropped 43 against the Lakers this past Tuesday. As he’s gone on this tear, his teammates have been looking better around him. Kelly Oubre Jr. has consistently been playing well on both ends of the floor. Guerschon Yabusele is playing so well that fans in Philadelphia desperately want the team to keep him. Eric Gordon started the month out returning from an absence for dental surgery and has shot 50.7% from three in January since. And that’s not even mentioning the contributions of the likes of Ricky Council IV, Justin Edwards and Adem Bona.
Now, another huge challenge awaits in the form of the 28-19 Nuggets, currently fourth in the Western Conference.
The Sixers will still be without Embiid, Paul George, Andre Drummond, Caleb Martin and KJ Martin. That being said, this quintet has been sidelined for a number of games now and it seems like the squad on the floor has finally found their groove operating in their absence.
However, we all know very well the difficulty of facing the Nuggets, led by MVP candidate Nikola Jokic. The MVP debate “conversations” (if you can call them that) have soured fans ability to just enjoy greatness in the sport when we see it, but what Jokic is doing this season is nothing short of great. He is averaging a triple-double with 29.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game — that’s third in the league for points and rebounds per game and second for assists. It feels redundant to even say, but stopping the 6-foot-11, 248-pound Jokic from doing whatever he wants is imperative to Philadelphia even having a chance in this one.
Last time these teams met, the Sixers pretty much let anyone in a Nuggets uniform do whatever they wanted. Back on Jan. 22 in Denver, the Sixers were at the tail end of that losing streak we mentioned earlier, and defense was an absolute no-show for Philadelphia. Denver took full advantage, absolutely crushing the visiting Sixers 144-109.
That being said, the glimmer of hope for the Sixers tonight lies in the potential to improve upon that performance. Not only has their defense been looking better, but their scoring does too compared to that last meeting. Maxey and Yabusele were the only two Sixers to tally more than 11 points in that contest. One can only hope the positive trends we’ve seen developing the last four games continue tonight — and that the squad doesn’t fall back into how they looked the last time they saw Denver.
The Sixers and Nuggets tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Game details
When: Friday, January 31, 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: The Center, Philadelphia, PA
Watch: ESPN, NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers
