The Sixers have ‘all the tools’ to be a great defensive team. Here’s how they plan to do it.

After the 76ers surrendered 126 points in a closer-than-expected win at the Washington Wizards on Dec. 6, coach Nick Nurse candidly outlined the defensive elements his team needed to improve.

Yet, in the same answer, Nurse predicted that the Sixers’ production on that end of the floor would “slide the other direction here over the next 20 games. I feel good about a lot of things.”

Nurse has largely been correct, as the Sixers’ defensive efficiency has vaulted from middle of the pack to a top-five unit entering Tuesday, at 109.9 points allowed per 100 possessions. One could point to poor opponents as the primary reason for the rapid ascension. Within those statistics, however, Nurse and his players say they have collectively sharpened their schematic and game-plan discipline. And the Sixers will likely need to be on point Wednesday, with the Minnesota Timberwolves’ top-rated defense coming to the Wells Fargo Center for a marquee matchup.

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“That number is increasing, in a hurry, of everybody being on the same page and executing,” Nurse said. “If [a possession] starts good, it ends good. Our transition [defense has] been good. Our ball pressure’s really been good. Our defeating the initial [offensive] action is good.

“You get those three things done, you’re in a good possession.”

Guard Tyrese Maxey added that, in Monday’s 108-104 loss to the Chicago Bulls, the Sixers’ defense “almost saved us” on a night when they uncharacteristically lacked offensive flow and did not get enough complementary help for Maxey and reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid. The Sixers held Bulls star guard DeMar DeRozan to 5-of-15 shooting from the floor, and his team to less than 30 points in three of four quarters.

That was part of a stingy stretch that has pushed the Sixers into the top 10 in the NBA in several notable categories entering Tuesday.

They lead the league in steals (9 per game) and deflections (16.9 per game), staples of Nurse’s disruptive philosophy. They are third in second-chance points allowed (12.3 per game), an indicator of their commitment to rebounding. They are sixth in opponents’ three-point percentage (34.7%), and seventh in blocked shots (6.2 per game).

Those results have come even after a seven-game run from Nov. 21 through that game in Washington when, over that stretch, the Sixers ranked near the bottom of the league in opponents’ field-goal percentage (49.8%), fast-break points allowed (28th, 16.9 per game), and points in the paint allowed (57.1 per game). To be fair, Embiid — whose formidable presence near the basket and Nurse’s encouragement to “take more swings” at blocks have made him a Defensive Player of the Year candidate — did not play in three of those games due to injury or illness.

Nurse still believes it’s possible for these Sixers to play even more aggressively, assuring that he is willing to “stomach the one [risk that leads to] a really bad backdoor layup that just looks awful and everybody groans, versus the three steals they already got you.” Versatile wing Robert Covington, who has built his career on defensive activity, appreciates that freedom to “not have to worry about what somebody’s going to say.”

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While verbalizing that initial list of desired improvements nearly two weeks ago, Nurse first mentioned a transition defense that has been near the bottom of the league all season — at least partially because of an emphasis on players crashing the offensive glass. The coach also wanted to widen the gap between his team’s free-throw attempts (a league-high 27.7 entering Tuesday) and his opponents’ (23.2), which would demonstrate that the Sixers are playing physically without fouling. Two days later, Nurse said the Sixers had spent much of a Sunday practice drilling how to get over every type of screen, and how to more urgently set up one of their zone defensive schemes.

Perhaps the most important priority, however, has been better finishing out possessions with the teammates playing behind that relentless on-ball work. It takes time to develop the required communication and cohesion to “figure it out if there’s a problem,” Nurse said, especially when Kelly Oubre Jr. missed 11 games with a fractured rib and rotation players Covington, Nicolas Batum, and Marcus Morris Sr. arrived in early November and didn’t go through Nurse’s training camp.

“There’s one little more technique or effort or play that needs to be made in those possessions,” Nurse said, “that have started good and gone really good, all the way until the shot goes up.”

Added Oubre: “It’s a tandem thing. It’s us and the bigs being in communication, and it’s all five players talking so we know we have help behind us. It releases us to be a little bit more aggressive on the ball and trying to wreak havoc up top, when we know that our team is back there helping.”

When asked about how to attack the Sixers’ defensive style, Atlanta Hawks coach Quin Snyder said his players “can’t be tentative.” Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. emphasized playing with pace. Detroit Pistons coach Monty Williams said his players must be strong with the ball in their hands and get into their offensive sets early, offering more opportunity for additional actions and to adjust to changing schemes.

None of those teams were productive enough to top the Sixers in their most recent meetings. By Saturday’s 53-point blasting of the Charlotte Hornets — the second consecutive opponent the Sixers held under 100 points — Embiid acknowledged that “we’re starting to feel pretty good about where our defense is.”

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The superstar big man was particularly happy with how they were forcing ballhandlers inside the three-point arc, noting he could sense them “thinking once, twice, or three times before going for a layup, so that helps our guards just recover and try to contest the shot.” Even after the loss to the Bulls, Maxey praised the way Covington and forward Tobias Harris guarded DeRozan, the way reserve big man Paul Reed came up on every screen, and the way tenacious guard Patrick Beverley again set the tone.

Those efforts had nearly saved the Sixers on a night the offense turned uncharacteristically clunky. And it was further evidence that Nurse was correct: His team has begun to slide in the positive direction.

“We have all the tools to be a great defensive team,” Batum added. “We’re going to be OK.”