Still winless, Sixers fall short against Bucks
MILWAUKEE - This was a matchup full of story lines. The 76ers were facing their former teammate in Milwaukee Bucks point guard Michael Carter-Williams - or so they thought. The matchup Wednesday night marked Bucks power forward Jabari Parker's return to the court after he suffered a torn left knee ligament in December. And it was the first career start for the Sixers' undrafted rookie point guard, T.J. McConnell.
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MILWAUKEE - This was a matchup full of story lines.
The 76ers were facing their former teammate in Milwaukee Bucks point guard Michael Carter-Williams - or so they thought. The matchup Wednesday night marked Bucks power forward Jabari Parker's return to the court after he suffered a torn left knee ligament in December. And it was the first career start for the Sixers' undrafted rookie point guard, T.J. McConnell.
In the end, the Bucks escaped with a 91-87 victory at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Greg Monroe gave Milwaukee (2-3) an 86-85 lead with 1 minute, 29 seconds remaining. Then Chris Middleton drained a three-pointer with 48 seconds left to give the Bucks a four-point cushion.
Jahlil Okafor's basket cut the lead to two points with 2.9 seconds remaining. However, that was as close as the Sixers (0-4) got. Middleton hit a pair of foul shots with 1.4 ticks left to clinch the victory.
"I'm really not too sure what happened on those certain plays," Sixers power forward Nerlens Noel said. "I think [Monroe] went backdoor. It happens that one of the guys fell asleep. But I should have been there to even help.
"I think it was a good game overall. We executed for the most part."
Carter-Williams didn't compete against the team that traded him to Bucks in February because of a sprained left ankle.
Okafor led the Sixers with 21 points and two blocks. Noel added 17 points, a game-high 12 rebounds, one block, one steal, and three turnovers. Nik Stauskas had 14 points while McConnell finished with seven points, a game-high 12 assists, nine rebounds and one turnover.
"He played phenomenal," Okafor said of McConnell. "We are great offensive team when he is in there. He's naturally a great offensive leader. I enjoy being on the same team with him and it's fun being on the floor with him."
The point guard was far from being in a cheerful mood after the game. "I'm not really looking into all that," he said. "We couldn't come up with the win. So I'm just looking forward toward Cleveland [on Friday] now. It stings that we didn't get the win, but we've got to move on."
Newcomer Phil Pressey finished with a rebound and an assist in 2 minutes, 32 seconds of action in the fourth quarter. The Sixers added the reserve point guard as a 16th man after being granted hardship relief because of several injuries on their roster.
Parker struggled offensively in his first game action in 11 months. The second overall pick in the 2014 draft made just 1 of 6 shots en route to scoring two points in 16 minutes, 21 seconds. He did add four rebounds and one assist.
Middleton paced the Bucks with 21 points.
Meanwhile, Okafor was happy to see his close friend back on the court. "Jabari is like a brother to me," the rookie center said. "We grew up together in the same area in Chicago."
They also played for rival high schools, were teammates on the Mac Irvin Fire AAU team and were members of the gold-medal-winning U.S. team in the 2012 FIBA Under-17 World Championships in Lithuania.
The two were also one-and-done players at Duke. Parker played for the Blue Devils during the 2013-14 season, while Okafor was a Blue Devil last year.
Parker visited Duke while he was injured last season to check on his close friend and watch the Blue Devils.
"I'm happy he's finally back out here," Okafor said. "I know he is, too. It was definitely heartbreaking to see him go down last year. But I think he's going to come back even better this year."
The Sixers are without small forward Robert Covington during their two-game trip to Milwaukee and Cleveland
Covington missed the trip after aggravating a sprained right medial collateral ligament during practice on Tuesday. He's expected to be sidelined for one to two weeks.
Jerami Grant started in place of Covington.
Covington first injured his knee against the Boston Celtics in the final preseason game on Oct. 23. At the time, his recovery time was slated to be one to three weeks. He was sidelined for the first two regular-season games as Hollis Thompson started in his place.
Covington returned Monday in the 107-100 setback to the Cavaliers, making 1 of 9 shots. He finished with four points, two rebounds, two steals and one block.
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