After a break for the holidays the Sixers continued their road trip in Denver tonight as they visited the Carmelo - less Nuggets, the 2nd time in 4 stops on this trip that they've had the chance to play a shorthanded team. Like last time against the Magic, the Sixers took full advantage on both sides of the court. Offensively, they finally got things going again, as Jrue Holiday's hot shooting led the way with 22 points, while Elton Brand posted 16 and 17 rebounds, Jodie Meeks drilled a pair of threes en route to 17, and Thad Young came off the bench for 20 and 7 rebounds. Other than that as a team the Sixers again struggled from the field at just 39% and from beyond at just 21%, but their defense more than made up for that. They the Nuggets to just 40% shooting from the field and 29% from beyond, while racking up 6 blocks and 11 steals, and forcing Denver into 17 turnovers. They also just barely out rebounded the Nuggets 49-48. So it was an all around effort.
Despite their great defensive play, things actually got off to a rocky start for the Sixers in this one. Thanks to their poor shooting, the Sixers actually fell behind by 12 after a quarter of play. In the 2nd quarter they found their stroke though, and managed to pull to within 3 at the half. The 3rd quarter was a tight affair with the Nuggets staving off multiple Sixer's surges to take a 5 point lead into the 4th quarter. Denver's short bench finally caught up with them in the 4th, as fresher Sixers outpaced them 29-18 to pull away to a big 6 point win, 95-89, as they move to 12-18 overall.
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