Sixers fall to Bucks despite Joel Embiid’s triple-double in return
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 45 points to lead the way for the Bucks.
With only three games until the actual playoffs, the 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks competed in a game with an incredible postseason atmosphere.
Fuses were short, elbows were flying, feelings were hard, and fouls were harder. The game included a first-quarter ejection of Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe.
In other words, this was no January game in Cleveland.
With Carson Wentz, Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins, and Allen Iverson in the boisterous house, it still wasn’t enough as the Bucks defeated the Sixers, 128-122, on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. Milwaukee outscored the Sixers, 46-36, in the fourth quarter.
“We struggled guarding them didn’t we?” Brett Brown said about the fourth quarter. “We have to do better.”
The Sixers (49-30) saw their magic number to clinch the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed stay at two. Any combination of two Sixers wins in their final three games or Celtics losses will earn the spot.
Joel Embiid, after missing the last three games to rest his left knee, recorded a triple double — 34 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists.
“You look at his stat line, it just confirms how dominant he can be,” Brown said of Embiid. “We feel we haven’t been playing with each other and you feel a little uncertain a little bit discombobulated at the end when it mattered the most.”
In addition, JJ Redick scored 29 points and Mike Scott added 22, including nine in the fourth quarter. For the second time in three games, Sixers forward Jimmy Butler was sidelined with back tightness.
The Sixers did a better job on MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo than in their last meeting, which isn’t saying much. In the teams’ previous game, a 130-125 Sixers win in Milwaukee on March 17, the Greek Freak exploded for 52 points.
On Thursday, he had 45 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocked shots.
“A few weeks ago they beat us at home,” Antetokounmpo said. “We just wanted to come out here and play good basketball and try to get a win.”
Antetokounmpo attempted 21 free throws, or three more than the Sixers.
What did the Sixers have to do to keep Antetokounmpo off the foul line?
“Stop fouling him,” Embiid said.
Easier said than done.
Embiid landed awkwardly on his ankle in the first half and fell on his back early in the third quarter but he kept battling.
“I am pretty sore, but I will be fine,” he said.
In addition to Antetokounmpo, all-Star Khris Middleton added 22 points and George Hill scored 20, including 13 in the fourth quarter
“Anytime you are playing guys in the playoff you could possibly match up with, the game is going to even raised higher,” Hill. “Just trying to make big-time plays down the stretch and win.”
Antetokounmpo was guarded for a majority of the game by Embiid. Ben Simmons, who had six points and 13 assists, also guarded Antetokounmpo. Nobody stopped him
The Bucks used players such as Brook Lopez and former Sixer Ersan Ilyasova to try to hold down Embiid.
With the score tied at 119, the Bucks went on an 8-0 run to put the game away, the final two points coming on a Lopez dunk with 16.2 seconds left.
Embiid didn’t receive a warm welcome back by the Bucks, especially Bledsoe, who is about a foot shorter than the Sixers’ two-time All-Star center.
“I was just thinking that I’m pretty good at what I do. This is the second time that I got one of the key guys on the other team thrown out, so I was pretty excited,” said Embiid of Bledsoe’s ejection.
The skirmish began after Antetokounmpo made a three-pointer with 9 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first quarter.
Right after the basket was made, Bledsoe pushed Embiid in the back. Embiid responded by throwing the ball at Bledsoe, who caught it and whipped it back at Embiid.
Tempers flared, but order was quickly restored. Bledsoe received two technical fouls and was ejected. Embiid and Scott also received technical fouls.
Embiid got to stay in and his reward was guarding the chiseled 6-foot-11, 242-pound Antetokounmpo, who posses a deadly combination of speed and power that the Sixers have seen plenty of this season.