Doc Rivers rips the Sixers’ effort after blowout loss to the Nuggets | Off the Dribble

Good morning, 76ers fans. The Sixers have just one game left on their season-long, six-game road trip following Tuesday’s 104-95 loss at Denver.

They wrap up their trip with Thursday’s game at Cleveland against the Cavaliers.

Tuesday marked the ninth consecutive game the Sixers played without Joel Embiid, who is out with a bone bruise in his left knee. The Sixers coach was frustrated by his team’s performance.

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— Marc Narducci (offthedribble@inquirer.com)

During an 82-game NBA season, or 72 games this season, there will be nights when teams don’t play well. Good, teams, bad teams, it doesn’t matter.

What coaches don’t want is a lackluster effort.

During his postgame press conference, Rivers was asked about the second unit, which played hard and was effective. The Sixers outscored Denver, 46-16, in bench points, although that figure was helped by the fact that no Sixers starter played in the fourth quarter.

When asked about his bench’s play afterward, Rivers took a direct shot at his starters.

“Well they [the bench] played hard, I mean they were the only group to me that kind of played hard and played together,” he said.

Again, a team can play poorly, but not playing hard is different.

Denver got a lot of open looks and when Rivers was asked about it, he again sounded his frustration.

“There were so many areas where we were bad, for me to try to point out one would be unfair to the other bad areas we worked,” he said. “We just had an awful game. We haven’t had many of those but tonight was one.”

One thing it showed was that while the Sixers can win some games without Embiid, beating elite teams is a different story. They are 6-3 in games he has missed with his current injury and the three losses were to teams that have to be considered championship contenders — the Bucks, Clippers and Nuggets.

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The players didn’t need the coach to tell them that they lacked much fire against Denver.

“Myself and our starters, our energy wasn’t where it needed to be,” said Tobias Harris, who scored 12 points. “We didn’t have enough pop to us, we didn’t have enough juice into the game …”

Chalk it up to a bad performance and effort by the starters.

Don’t be surprised if the Sixers come out much more focused on Thursday against a Cleveland team that owns a 2-0 lead in the season series.

Keith Pompey writes how Shake Milton has solidified his sixth-man role through a journey of perseverance.

Pompey profiles Sixers rookie Paul Reed, the G League MVP, who continues to work hard while waiting for a chance at more playing time.

In the latest Inquirer NBA power rankings, The Sixers have dropped from the top spot to No. 3.

While Rivers is anxious to see newly acquired George Hill in action, he said the Sixers won’t rush to bring him back from a thumb injury that has kept him out of action since Jan. 24.

David Murphy writes that Joel Embiid can’t allow his MVP fantasy to dash the Sixers’ postseason dreams

Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook is the king of the triple-double. The NBA didn’t begin tracking the statistic until the 1979-80 season, but basketball-reference.com tracks the stat back to the 1950-51 season.

Westbrook is second all-time in triple-doubles with 162, while Oscar Robertson is No. 1 with 181. Even though this is his first season in Washington, Westbrook set the franchise record for triple-doubles in Monday’s 132-124 home win over Indiana.

In that game Westbrook had 35 points, 14 rebounds and 21 assists.

That gave him 16 triple-doubles in 38 games for the Wizards.

» READ MORE: Paul Westhead vs. Magic Johnson: The battle that foretold the future of modern sports | Mike Sielski

The previous franchise triple-double career record was 15 set by Darrell Walker, who played 283 games with the Wizards.

Here are the top Wizards triple-double career leaders:

Player, triple-doubles, games

Westbrook is one of three players to have at least 30 points, 20 assists and 10 rebounds in one game, according to basketball-reference.com. The others are Robertson and Magic Johnson.

Johnson had 32 points, 20 assists and 10 rebounds in a 109-104 road win over the Sixers on Nov. 28, 1988. Robertson had 32 points, 20 assists and 15 rebounds for the Cincinnati Royals in a 133-117 win over the Chicago Packers on Dec. 11, 1961.

Thursday: Sixers at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7 p.m., Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, NBC Sports Philadelphia

Saturday: Minnesota Timberwolves at Sixers, 8 p.m. Wells Fargo Center, NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus

Sunday: Memphis Grizzlies at Sixers, 7 p.m. Wells Fargo Center, NBC Sports Philadelphia

Tuesday: Sixers at Boston Celtics, 7:30 p.m., TD Garden, NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus/TNT

April 9: Sixers at New Orleans Pelicans, 8 p.m. Smoothie King Center, NBC Sports Philadelphia

Question: Is there a chance the Sixers will go after DeMarcus [Cousins]? — Luis Rodriguez from Facebook

Answer: Thanks for the question Luis. We received several like this. I understand the Sixers need a third center, but I don’t see them going after Cousins. Remember, he was released on Feb. 23 and nobody has picked him up. I don’t think he would want to settle for a role as a third center who might not play once Embiid returns. While he has done a good job overcoming several injuries, Cousins, 30, is far from his former self, a four-time All-Star in his prime. He can still score, but he doesn’t appear to fit into what the Sixers are looking for.

Send questions by email to mnarducci@inquirer.com or @sjnard on Twitter.