The Nuggets played the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center. …
And you thought the next sentence would be about tanking.
Well, it is. Kind of.
The Nuggets lost 99-85 in an ugly contest.
So, they actually won?
It’s a tricky time of year for the Nuggets, whose lottery prospects improve with defeats but whose confidence and foundation for rebuilding a winning culture improve with each victory. What to do? Just play and let the chips fall where they may is probably the right answer.
“There’s some basketball icons that are rolling over in their grave right now,” Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt said. “From Philadelphia all the way to Denver.”
Nuggets Mailbag: Pose a question for Christopher Dempsey
In lottery terms, the Nuggets are essentially only in “competition” with the Detroit Pistons and Sacramento Kings for the league’s sixth- to eighth-worst records. That’s it. All other teams on either side of that are far enough away to predict there won’t be movement there.
The Nuggets still have games against some lottery-bound teams — the Los Angeles Lakers, Kings and two against the Utah Jazz, starting Friday. But Utah, with a core it likes, is trying to win, and the Jazz is playing well of late.
The Nuggets, meanwhile, are going out and also playing to win. Players aren’t concerned about lottery odds more than washing away as much of the frustration of the season as they can. Wins do that for them.
But Wednesday they couldn’t get there. The first quarter was wacky and could be summed up in four scoring runs — 8-0 by Philadelphia to start the game. The Nuggets answered with a 13-1 run. Philly responded with a 13-2 run. The Nuggets closed the first on a 6-0 stretch. The score was 22-21, Philadelphia.
PHOTOS: Denver Nuggets vs. Philadelphia 76ers, March 25, 2015
Things gradually improved, then plummeted, kind of in the way a stock market would. A 10-2 run at the end of the third quarter gave the Nuggets their biggest lead at the time, going into the fourth up four.
But an inability to get the game revved into high gear kept Philadelphia feeling confident all night long.
“Usually we play at a different pace,” Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari said. “We’ve got to be able to do that, so hopefully we do that next game.”
The Sixers needed a slower-paced contest after playing a close, physically draining game at Sacramento the previous night, and they got it.
The Sixers’ young legs, however, put a 20-6 run on the Nuggets after the game was tied at 79 with 6:16 to go. It was punctuated by a Nerlens Noel steal and slam.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dempseypost