By Sarah Berkowitz
Will Barton scored 22 points, including a big 3-pointer late, to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 106-98 victory over the Sixers last night at the Wells.
Danilo Gallinari led Denver with 24 points and Jamal Murray added 22 for the Nuggets, who won for just the second time in the last seven games. It was their second contest of a six-game road trip.
Ersan Ilyasova (above), Sergio Rodriguez and Dario Saric all had 17 points for Philly, which culminated a four-game homestand with its seventh straight defeat.
Murray was waiting at the scorer’s table after Barton missed all four shots early in the third quarter. Barton had to quickly turn around and play defense after realizing Murray wasn’t entering.
From that point, Barton was 6 of 7 and tallied 16 points.
Wilson Chandler, Denver’s leading scorer at 18.6 points per game, was scoreless until tallying 10 straight points beginning with a 3-pointer with 8:24 remaining that made it 84-74. He matched the Nuggets’ largest lead with another 3 that made it 89-78 with 6:25 left.
Joel Embiid’s 3-pointer cut it to four, but Barton all but put the game away with a 3 of his own on Denver’s next possession, making it 103-96 with 49 seconds to play.
The game featured Murray and Embiid, the NBA’s Western and Eastern Conference rookies of the month for October/November. Embiid finished with 16 points.
Embiid returned after sitting out Saturday’s 107-106 loss to Boston, the seventh game he has missed this season due to the team’s rehab plan not to play him on back-to-back nights after he was sidelined for his first two seasons with a foot injury. The 7-foot-2 center will not make the trip to Memphis, where the 76ers will play on Tuesday night.
