The Philadelphia 76ers will close out a back-to-back on Friday evening when they visit the Milwaukee Bucks, led by former Sixers coach Doc Rivers.
The Sixers are coming off narrowly surviving disgusting
implosion against the Golden State Warriors — without Steph Curry or Jimmy Butler — in South Philadelphia on Thursday evening. The visitors got off to an ugly start, shooting 16.0% (4-for-25) from the floor in the opening frame, allowing the Sixers to take a 30-10 lead into the second quarter. From there, the Sixers led relatively-comfortably the majority of the rest of the way… until the final frame, when they just HAD to make it interesting.
We’ve all seen a number of Sixers’ implosions — this one was impressively bad. Not a single point across a 5 minutes and 29 seconds span in the fourth and the Warriors took full advantage. Midway through the fourth period, the Warriors pulled within single digits for the first time since the beginning of the game. With less than three minutes to play, they took the lead. A once 24-point advantage for the Sixers had been completely erased.
Thank goodness for the rookie, VJ Edgecombe. Edgecombe came up with a steal with 8 seconds to play to give the Sixers a chance to steal back the win they tried to give away. Then, he put up the game-winning bucket.
Kudos to Tyrese Maxey, too, for putting up that block on De’Anthony Melton in the final moment. Not sure if the lay-in would have fallen for DMelt, but I’m grateful we didn’t have to find out. Maxey led for the Sixers all night, putting up a field-leading 35 points. He did play 40 minutes yet again, though.
Won’t say the Sixers deserved the win by any means after that fourth period, but man, what a finish.
Alas, onto Friday. being a back-to-back for Philadelphia, the Sixers’ injury report will not be available until this afternoon, so we will bring you updates there once they are available. That being said, one would expect Embiid to be out for this one after he played 25 minutes last night. Kelly Oubre Jr. will still be out and is set to be re-evaluated next week for his LCL sprain. Trendon Watford is also still out as he continues to recover from an adductor strain.
Paul George missed Thursday night’s contest for left knee injury recovery, so that is at least one Sixers player’s status that is up in the air as far as Friday goes and we’ll have to wait until the injury report is out.
While we aren’t really certain yet who will be on the floor for the Sixers, we know the Bucks will be without their leader in Giannis Antetokounmpo. According to a report from ESPN, the two-time NBA MVP is expected to miss two to four weeks with a right calf strain suffered earlier this week. He left a Wednesday evening contest in the first quarter after going down suddenly while heading back up the court, a no-contact injury.
The Bucks will also be without Taurean Prince, out indefinitely as he recovers from neck surgery.
Milwaukee comes into Friday’s contest with a 10-13 record, sitting in 10th in the Eastern Conference as of Thursday evening and overall just seeming to struggle this campaign. They also have a 1-5 record this season without Giannis, the team’s unequivocal leader statistically, so let’s look at a few names who might look to unexpectedly step up in his absence.
Ryan Rollins, a 23-year-old guard, is having a breakout season for himself averaging 17.9 points and shooting 39.4% on 6.0 attempts from long range per contest. He’s got himself 10 +20-point games and two +30-pointers already this season.
Next up is Kevin Porter Jr., a 25-year-old guard who was playing in Greece just a year ago. After missing all but a single game to start the season with a meniscus injury, Porter has played in the last three games for the Bucks and — though its a small sample size — has looked damn good. Over those three contests, Porter is averaging 23.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He’s averaging 55.8% (on 14.3 attempts) per game from the floor and 57.9% (on 6.3 attempts) from long range in 30.3 minutes played. With a huge gap in the Bucks’ scoring to fill, Porter is going to look to continue to make a name for himself in this opportune time.
The Bucks are coming off a day’s rest, having Thursday off after they pulled off the win Wednesday (without Giannis for the majority) 113-109 over the East-leading Detroit Pistons.
The good news on the Sixers’ schedule front is that, after Friday, they’ll play just two games over the following eight days — one on Dec. 7 and the next on Dec. 12.
But first, they have another back-to-back to close. The Sixers and Bucks will tip off at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee at 8 p.m. ET.
Game Details
When: Friday, December 5, 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers
