Fiery Simmons can't repel Sixers' NBA loss
Ben Simmons was the Philadelphia 76ers' leading light in the absence of Joel Embiid but his 29 points were in vain as the Portland Trail Blazers beat their NBA hosts 130-115 in a sometimes fiery encounter.
Simmons matched his season high for points and added 10 assists and seven rebounds to his stat sheet, while he was also involved in two of the game's flare ups.
With Philadelphia trailing in the third quarter, Simmons missed the first of two free-throw attempts to which Nurkic yelled "Hell no".
The Australian All-Star was quick to fire back with some colourful language.
"You talk a lot of shit for being a**. Be f***in' quiet. You talk a lot," he said.
Simmons wasn't quite as heated later on in the game when Enes Kanter came after him for a perceived shove after a lay-up by the Sixers point guard.
This time, however, Simmons refused to react.
The Sixers struggled in their second game without All-Star centre Embiid, who is expected to miss at least a week with a sore left knee.
"Obviously, once you have Joel out here you slow the game down a little bit and feed him the ball, you let him do his thing," Simmons said.
"But it's obviously different playing without him and trying to find a flow and to not really get that."
Tobias Harris scored 20 points while Jimmy Butler and Mike Scott, both 15, were the only other Sixers players in double figures.
Without Embiid, Philadelphia couldn't keep up in a match-up between the fourth-place teams in each conference.
Nurkic scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Damian Lillard had 17 points for Portland.
The Blazers (36-23) have won three in a row, including a 22-point victory over Golden State before the All-Star break while Philadelphia (38-22) are 4-4 this month.
Meanwhile Utah Jazz have enjoyed a comfortable 125-109 win over Dallas.
Ricky Rubio and Donovan Mitchell both had 25 points for the Jazz with Joe Ingles contributing 18.
Ingles had a stunning final quarter, landing four three-pointers to ice the win.
The Mavs were best served by Tim Hardaway Jr (21 points) with Australian Ryan Broekhoff adding three points from his six minutes.
Elsewhere, the Houston Rockets won 118-112 at the Golden State Warriors without James Harden while the Milwaukee Bucks improved the best record in the league with a 140-128 defeat over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
LeBron James's Los Angeles Lakers did not have to face a rested Anthony Davis but the New Orleans Pelicans proved too good at home wining 128-115.
Other winners on a busy Saturday were the Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks.
