On Sunday night, the Sixers clinched their first postseason berth since 2012.
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Fultz played the 76ers’ first four games of the season before he was ruled out indefinitely with soreness and a scapular muscle imbalance in the shoulder. Meanwhile, the Nuggets haven’t been quite as dominant but they’ve been building momentum and need to keep winning to stay in the race for that eighth seed in the congested Western Conference.
After a 68-game absence, Markelle Fultz made his return to the court Monday night. The Nuggets shot 43.5 percent from the field and drilled 17 of their 34 three point attempts to offset a 46-38 rebounding disadvantage.
Denver evened their record on this seven game trip with their second straight straight win as they took down the Wizards.
Fultz has dealt with a tumultuous rookie season. Young averaged 2.8 points in six games. I’m that guy. I realize that and I embrace it. “I wasn’t anxious about how I played or what I did. These fans are great, and I love them”. “We don’t know where it started, when it started”. That comes with the territory. “I’m ready for the next game”.
And in the 123-104 win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday, the number one overall pick showed flashes of what made him the consensus top prospect in the last year’s National Basketball Association draft, while also looking like someone who hadn’t seen game action in quite a while.
“I get goose bumps telling you all that”, Brown said.
Coach Brett Brown has stuck with the Sixers through many of these painful years, and despite being the franchise’s all-time losses leader, Brown will now take the team to the playoffs for the first time.
All-Star center Joel Embiid tweeted a GIF of WWE star The Undertaker rising from a casket. He was able to hit a step back jumper in the 4th and shot a decent percentage when considering that he was a rookie and it was his first game returning from injury. Kevin Porter needed just 12 minutes to total 10 points and 8 assists for the Bullets on February 17, 1980.
The 76ers have been established as five-point favorites for this contest as they look to improve to 7-1-1 against the spread in the last nine meetings between the teams. Denver is 5-5 in its last 10 games and is just 13-24 on the road. The 76ers rank last in steals allowed per game (8.7). Only the Celtics have been better among Eastern Conference clubs.
The over/under is 220 points, and both teams have been trending with the over of late. It was Philadelphia’s seventh win in a row and 11 in their last 14 outings. In the time he was out all sorts of rumors about him flew around.
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Brown’s team can not rest on their laurels.
