The Sixers are riding a three-game winning streak, sitting third in the Eastern Conference at 26-13, and fresh off a victory over the defending champion Nuggets.
They’ve achieved all of that despite defensive rebounding woes.
As of Thursday night, the Sixers ranked last in the NBA in defensive rebounding rate since Jan. 1, according to Cleaning the Glass. Sixers opponents have rebounded 36.4 percent of their misses during that seven-game stretch. Nikola Jokic grabbed 11 offensive boards Tuesday.
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“The defensive rebounding is the (area) that’s taken the biggest hit,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said following practice Thursday. “The offensive rebounding has dropped a bit, but it’s still pretty productive. I think we’ve done a better job here recently of not over-crashing — or at least having a balance with the crash and get back combination. ... We gave up a few too many transition buckets, but we’ve cleaned that up a little bit.
“I’m OK with the offensive (rebounding); I’d like it to be better. The defensive (rebounding) has to be better.”
Though Nurse opted not to reveal all his thoughts on the Sixers’ recent rebounding dip, he sounded optimistic that the numbers would soon improve.
“As usual, it needs a little bit of investigation,” he said. “There is a lot of good news on that front, but I think I’ll keep that to myself. There’s a lot more long ones. We’ve just got to do a better job of reacting to the next play. We always say, ‘Tag somebody’ — that’d be the blocking out part — and then pursue. We’re doing a decent job of tagging and we’re not pursuing.
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“It’s kind of like two plays, right? … And you try to anticipate when it is a miss and when it's going long. Now your tag is over with and it turns into a footrace a lot of times. So that’s what we’re trying to work on.”
Next up for the Sixers are the 22-19 Magic, who have been a top-10 offensive rebounding team this season.
De’Anthony Melton (lumbar spine stress response), Robert Covington (left knee inflammation) and Mo Bamba (right knee inflammation) will remain out for Friday’s game in Orlando.
Covington didn’t join the Sixers on the road, but Nurse noted he hasn’t experienced “any swelling in the last three or four days.”
“He is doing a lot of stuff now, so I would say (his return) should be right around the corner,” Nurse said of Covington, whose last appearance was on Dec. 30. “We’re hoping to get a good eval after this trip, and hopefully he’ll be ready to go by then. That’s hopeful.”
The Sixers listed Jaden Springer as questionable because of right ankle tendinitis. Danuel House Jr. was a full practice participant after sitting out the Denver game with a lumbar spine contusion.
Joel Embiid practiced and looks like he’ll be good to go for the first game of the Sixers’ back-to-back. The team will finish its brief trip Saturday night against the Hornets. Embiid scored 42 points in three quarters and the Sixers won by a historic 53 when they visited Charlotte in December.
While the Sixers’ win Tuesday over the Nuggets was obviously a high-quality one, they’ve shifted their focus.
“It’s the NBA, man,” Marcus Morris Sr. said. “You’ve got so many damn games. To me, I don’t look at it as a statement win. I think, ‘OK, it’s the champs. We played well.’ I think it’s just challenging ourselves and being ready to play with whoever’s out there on the court.”