Turnovers and poor foul shooting doom Sixers as three starters miss loss vs. Suns | Best/Worst

So close.

The 76ers came so close to forcing overtime when Joel Embiid’s heave from behind the opposite free-throw line hit off the backboard and went in and out of the rim in Wednesday’s 116-113 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the Wells Fargo Center.

While Doc Rivers and Embiid aren’t ones for moral victories, it was a valiant effort by a Sixers squad playing without three starters in Tobias Harris, Ben Simmons, and Seth Curry.

» READ MORE: Undermanned Sixers fall to Phoenix Suns, 116-113, as Joel Embiid’s 67-footer rims out at the buzzer

Here’s a look at the best and worst awards from the contest:

Chris Paul gets this. Some will point to Embiid’s finishing with game highs of 38 points and 17 rebounds in a losing effort. But the four-time All-Star center also had eight turnovers. Meanwhile, Paul showed why he’s an MVP candidate just like Embiid. The Suns point guard had 28 points while making 5 of 8 three-pointers. Perhaps his best stat was eight assists and zero turnovers in 33 minutes, 55 seconds.

Shake Milton gets this for the second consecutive game. This time, the point guard had the misfortune of being thrust into the starting lineup with Simmons out and having to go head-to-head against Paul. He missed 8 of 10 shots en route to finishing with five points. He had two assists, four turnovers, and was a game-worst minus-17.

This goes to Matisse Thybulle. The guard had the best defensive game against Devin Booker of any Sixer in the past four seasons. With Thybulle as the primary defender, Booker had 19 points on 6-for-14 shooting, including three turnovers. Even that was misleading. The two-time All-Star had 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting through three quarters.

Booker had scored a game-high 36 points on 14-for-23 shooting against the Sixers on Feb. 13. That marked his seventh straight game with 30-plus points against Philly.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid or Nikola Jokic? Who’s the front-runner for NBA MVP?

This goes to Phoenix’s foul shooting. The Suns made 11 of 12 for a 91.7% success rate.

It was hard to just pick one. So I’m giving this to the Sixers’ turnovers and foul shooting. They committed 17 turnovers, which led 24 points for the Suns. The Sixers made 18 of 26 free throws for a 69.2% success rate.