"Best" & "Worst" awards: Sixers vs. Nuggets

DENVER – My look at some of the best and worst performances and happenings from the 76ers' 114-102 victory over the Denver Nuggets Wednesday night at Pepsi Center:

Best performance: It would be insane to not give this award to Evan Turner. His 23 points led all scorers in what turned out to be mismatch of a game. The Sixers' swingman also finished with six assists, five rebounds, two steals, a blocked shot and a turnover. This was his second consecutive solid outing after missing the Dec. 28 game at Phoenix with right knee soreness.

Worst performance: I hate to give this to Tony Wroten's cousin, but it's unavoidable. Nate Robinson, who's Denver's backup point guard, failed to score a point or finish with an assist in 10 minutes, 49 seconds of action.  He missed all three of his shot attempts and finished with two rebounds.

Best performance in a losing effort: This award goes to Nuggets center J.J. Hickson. The 6-foot-9, 242-pounder was having his way with Spencer Hawes before the game got out of hand. Hickson still managed to finish with 19 points, 11 rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal.

Best defensive performance:  Hickson also gets this one on a night when his teammates couldn't guard a statue. In addition to his two blocks and steal, seven of his rebounds came on the defensive end.

Worst statistic:  This goes to the Nuggets three-point shooting. N.C. State shot just 20 percent (5-for-25) from long range.

Best statistic: This had to go the Sixers second-quarter shooting performance. They shot 64 percent (16 of 25) from the field en route to scoring 44 points in the decisive quarter.

Worst of the Worst: This had to go to the state of the Nuggets. Former Sixer Andre Miller had to be restrained on the Nuggets bench during the timeout with 5:33 left in the fourth quarter. From what I hear, Miller is one of the nicest guys in the NBA. So to see him being restrained, it's obvious that Denver has some serious problems.

- Keith Pompey

Follow and contact Inquirer 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter @PompeyOnSixers