Joel Embiid dominates Nikola Jokić as Sixers top Denver Nuggets

The MVP chants began when Joel Embiid stepped to the foul line early in the second quarter.

The Wells Fargo Center crowd cheered in part because Denver Nuggets two-time MVP Nikola Jokić was, once again, struggling to defend the reigning MVP in Embiid.

But they also wanted Jokić to know that they believed Embiid was and still is superior.

Embiid gave them every reason to boast, finishing with 41 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. All of which came with the 76ers prevailing, 126-121.

Jokić finished with 25 points and 19 rebounds.

The victory improved the Sixers to 26-13 and extended their winning streak to three games. Meanwhile, the defending NBA champion Nuggets dropped to 28-14, snapping a two-game winning steak.

Denver’s inability to stop Embiid in the fourth quarter was a major difference in the outcome. He scored 11 fourth-quarter points on 4-for-6 shooting.

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Embiid split a pair of foul shots with 46 seconds left to put the Sixers up, 124-115. But the Nuggets didn’t give up. Michael Porter Jr. hit a three-pointer and made three foul shots to close the gap to five points with 26.6 seconds remaining.

But that was as close as they would get.

Tyrese Maxey added 25 points and nine assists for the Sixers. Tobias Harris finished with 24 points.

Porter had 20 points.

But Embiid extended his franchise-best streak of consecutive 30-point games to 18. It’s tied for the sixth-longest 30-point steak in NBA history with Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor. It also marked his 47th 40-point game, good for seventh among active NBA players.

De’Anthony Melton remained sidelined with lumbar spine response. This isn’t surprising given coach Nick Nurse said Monday that the starting shooting guard would be sidelined around a week. The team made things official on Tuesday, announcing that he would miss three games — Denver, Orlando Magic (Friday) and Charlotte Hornets (Saturday).

“We thought it would probably be week-ish,” Nurse said. “So it’s going to take him out the next three for sure. And just the same like we are trying to get it right, trying to get it better and get it closer back to 100% before we go at it again.”

Kelly Oubre Jr. got his second consecutive start in place of Melton. He started alongside Nic Batum, Harris, Embiid, and Maxey.

Melton had missed three games with back pain before returning Wednesday to face the Atlanta Hawks. He had 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting in the loss. Then, he scored six points in Friday’s victory over the Sacramento Kings before being shut down.

“It was going on enough to sit him out a few games and try to figure out what’s going on, tried to manage it, rehab it, and get it back to a playable thing,” Nurse said. “And just kind of figured it wasn’t quite [there]. He was still having conflict and pain. He can play, just not to play to the best of his ability. So now it’s kind of on to Plan B to give him a little more time in a different direction on how to make it better.”

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The Sixers will give Batum and Pat Beverley more minutes in Melton’s absence. But Oubre will be the biggest beneficiary. The Sixers are confident that he’ll step in well for Melton. He already has.

“I think Kelly’s the natural kind of fit because we were playing without him for quite a bit,” Nurse said. “He’s the natural one to kind of take over Melt’s two-guard position and defensive, he’s a playmaker on D like Melt is. Melt darts in, gets his hands on a lot of balls, gets a lot of steals. Kelly can do the same.”

The Sixers were also without Robert Covington (left knee inflammation), Mo Bamba (right knee fat pad impingement), Danuel House Jr. (lumbar spine contusion), and Kenneth Lofton Jr. (left shoulder ).

The Nuggets were far from jet-lagged, shooting 65.2% in the first quarter.

But they have the perfect excuse to produce a sluggish start. They were on the plane for nine hours Monday while traveling from Denver to Philly.

“The weather in Denver was very, very cold,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And for some reason, we were supposed to leave at noon and left at 5 [p.m.]. Then obviously have a lengthy trip flying all the way here. So a long day of travel, but the most important thing is we made it. We got in safely. And our guy will be ready to go tonight.”

The Sixers are off until facing the Magic on Friday night at the Kia Center. It will be the Sixers’ second meeting against Orlando. The Sixers prevailed, 112-92, on Dec. 27 in Florida without Embiid.

Maxey finished with 23 points on 9-for-18 shooting. Harris added 22 points and seven rebounds. Meanwhile, Melton (22 points), Paul Reed (15 points, 10 rebounds), and reserves Marcus Morris (14 points) and Patrick Beverley (10) were the other double-digit scorers.

Franz Wagner paced the Magic with 24 points. Paolo Banchero, the reigning rookie of the year, struggled through 6 of 21 shooting while scoring 21 points.