With an 8-7 record, the Philadelphia 76ers head from Utah to Denver, where they will meet the 9-5 Denver Nuggets.
The Sixers enter the contest with the second-highest offensive rating (112.2) in the NBA, while the Nuggets currently hold the third-best defensive rating (102.5).
Thursday morning’s injury report listed the following players as out:
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Philadelphia: Joel Embiid (health and safety protocols), Danny Green (left hamstring tightness), Aaron Henry (G League - Two-Way), Grant Riller (left knee injury recovery), Ben Simmons (personal reasons), Jaden Springer (G League - Two-Way), Matisse Thybulle (health and safety protocols)
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Denver: Jamal Murray (left knee injury recovery), Zeke Nnaji (right ankle sprain), Michael Porter Jr. (lower back pain)
Denver’s Will Barton is doubtful due to lower back pain.
The Sixers have dropped the last five games without Embiid.
“There’s nothing that shifts, it’s just a long season,” 76ers Head Coach Doc Rivers said postgame on Tuesday. “You go through a lot of games and there’s nobody here [who’s] worried. It’s a long season and you go through these. When you have the injuries we have and the games that we’ve played… listen, I want to win every game, but I do understand what we’re under right now too.”
Thursday is the first of two meetings between the Sixers and the Nuggets this season. The two teams won’t play again until March 14 in Philadelphia.
Thursday’s matchup is a 9 p.m. ET start.
Opponent Outlook:
The Nuggets (9-5) had a five-game winning streak snapped on Monday in Dallas, falling to the Mavericks, 111-101.
Nikola Jokić registered a season-high 35 points against Dallas and leads the Nuggets in points per game (26.1), rebounds per game (11.0) and assists per game (6.3). Jokić has two triple-doubles in the past four games and 59 such performances for his career.
Austin Rivers, son of 76ers Head Coach Doc Rivers, currently plays for Denver. First-round pick Bones Hyland is a Wilmington, Delaware native.
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