Without Joel Embiid, James Harden, Sixers outlasted by Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets

DENVER — The 76ers forewarned us.

They said fielding a healthy team in the postseason was the sole focus. Joel Embiid even stated he doesn’t care about the MVP race. He stressed that his main priority is getting his body ready for what he hopes is a long playoff run. The team wants to do the same thing for James Harden.

So the duo missed what was expected to be a big game for both the Sixers and Embiid’s MVP candidacy. Their absence resulted in a 116-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena.

» READ MORE: For Sixers coach Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid, it’s all about being healthy for NBA playoffs

Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, who was voted MVP the past two seasons, finished with 25 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists and two blocks. It was his NBA-leading 29th triple-double of the season.

Tyrese Maxey kept the Sixers competitive, scoring 25 of his 29 points before intermission. However, the Nuggets (51-24) appeared to have the game locked up after a 21-2 run to build a commanding 83-61 lead with 5 minutes, 3 seconds left in third quarter.

The Sixers bench players and their relentless play made things close again. The reserves made it a three-point game (114-111) on Montrezl Harrell’s dunk with 28.9 seconds left before the Nuggets closed out the game.

The loss dropped the Sixers to 49-26. It also marked their third straight loss and fourth in five games. The Sixers had once hoped to contend for the Eastern Conference title.

However, this loss dropped the third-place team five games behind the conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks with seven games left. The Sixers are also three games behind the second-place Boston Celtics. And they’re just 1 ½ games ahead of the fourth-place Cleveland Cavaliers.

And anything close to Embiid’s standard performance would have put the MVP race to rest.

This was supposed to be the second of two MVP showdowns with Jokić. Embiid has been this season’s frontrunner of late after finishing second to Jokić in the MVP voting the past two seasons.

“He’s been complaining about it today in shootaround,” coach Doc Rivers said of Embiid’s calf. “I just didn’t like the way he was moving. And it was not a hard decision for us.”

The Sixers want to use precaution when it comes to Embiid’s calf. The six-time All-Star originally felt discomfort in a loss to the Chicago Bulls on March 20 at the Wells Fargo Center. He felt pain again in the first half of the Sixers’ game against the Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday. He sat out of the second half of that blowout victory for precautionary reasons. He then played in back-to-back games at the Golden State Warriors (Friday) and at the Phoenix Suns (Saturday). He was sluggish and tired against the Suns. After that game, Embiid said he would see how his body felt before determining if he would play against the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.

Rivers said he ruled Embiid out of the game. But in hindsight, might Rivers have wished that he held Embiid out in one of the back-to-back games? That might have enabled the big center to feel better on Monday.

“Not really, I mean he would have still felt it at some points,” Rivers said. “I think you wish that and everybody else because they want to see these two guys play. But no is the answer.”

Harden participated in Monday morning’s shootaround and looked great during his post-shootaround workout. The expectation was the 10-time All-Star point guard was going to play. However, he was ruled out 30 minutes before tipoff. It marked the fourth straight game Harden missed due to left Achilles soreness.

Maxey’s play made up for the absences of Embiid and Harden, at least for a little while.

The guard was, by far, the best player on the floor in the first half. He kept making big shot after big shot to keep the Sixers close. His 25 first-half points came on 10-for-16 shooting. However, Maxey shot 2-of-5 after intermission.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Joel Embiid touts center position, James Harden remains sidelined with Achilles soreness

With Embiid and Harden out, De’Anthony Melton and Dewayne Dedmon joined Maxey, Tobias Harris, and P.J. Tucker in the starting lineup.

Tucker (0-for-2 shooting) and Dedmon (0-for-2) failed to score a point.

Jokić, in recording yet another triple-double, was more of a distributor for three quarters, attempting just nine shots and making six of them. But he constantly set teammates up for great scoring opportunities and grabbed rebounds while excelling as a point center. He ended up making 8 of 11 shots. The Nuggets fans kept chanting “MVP” whenever Jokić went to the foul line. They also took shots at Embiid for not playing in the game. There were also ‘Joel Embiid missing person’ signs all over the arena.

The Sixers will look to snap their losing streak when they play the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.