(Basketball news) The Denver Nuggets extended their record at the top of the Western Conference table as they beat the Philadelphia 76ers 116-111. For the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic posted his 29th triple-double of the season as he scored 25 points, pulled down 17 rebounds and dished out 12 assists as Jamal Murray had 19 points while Micheal Porter had 15 points, For the 76ers, Tyrese Maxey scored 23 of his 29 points in the first half as Jalen McDaniels had 16 points. 

The Sixers, who also were without James Harden (Achilles) for a fourth consecutive game, matched their season high with their third consecutive loss. The highly anticipated showdown between MVP frontrunners that many felt could have decided whether Embiid, the runner-up the last two years, denied Jokic a third consecutive award but it looks like the battle will go on to the last match of the season.

“The guy’s a beast,” Jokic said. “He can affect the game in so many ways on the floor.”

“It was not a hard decision for us,” the 76ers coach said of holding out Embiid, who complained of discomfort at the team’s morning shootaround after playing both ends of a back-to-back on the road over the weekend.

“Everybody wants to see these two guys play against each other,” Rivers said, but “we’re just going to take it slow and be smart. We want to get him and the whole team healthy for the playoffs.”

“We can’t have that” kind of letdown “especially against a team with their two superstars out,” Nuggets sixth man Bruce Brown said. ”This should have been a 20-point win. We just took our foot off the gas.”

The New Orleans Pelicans continued their late resurgence as they beat the Portland Trail Blazers 124-90. For the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram scored 29 points as CJ McCollum, who played nine seasons with the Blazers before he was traded to the Pelicans last season, added 17 points while Jonas Valanciunas finished with 10 points and 21 rebounds. For the Blazers, Keon Johnson had 20 points off the bench as they have lost nine of 10 and will likely miss the playoffs for the second straight season. Most of their regular starters were out with injuries, including top scorer Damian Lillard (right calf), Jerami Grant (bruised left quad), Jusuf Nurkic (right knee) and Anfernee Simons (right foot). 

“We’re playing with energy. We play together. We enjoy basketball,” Valanciunas said. “That gives us extra motivation, playing for something. So I think everybody is motivated. Everybody has a goal.”

“I wasn’t concerned about the effort. I thought we played hard,” coach Chauncey Billups said. “That’s a team that’s on a mission. They’re playing very well, and they just kicked our butt, man.”

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