What is the story about?
The Sixers passed their first test without LeBron James, holding on to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 12x-11x Saturday night.
Joel Embiid had a big second half offensively, leading the Sixers with 28 points shooing 8-of-20 from the field with 11 rebounds. Jaylen Brown had a strong outing on his 30th birthday, going for 27 points and five assists on 9-of-19 shooting.
VJ Edgecombe finally got some three-balls to go down and made some big plays on the glass, finishing with 17 rebounds on 5-of-13 shooting
with 12 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey had his most modest night of the season with 26 points and four assists. Jaime Jaquez Jr. led the Bucks with 21.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- The Sixers tried to get the new guy up to speed as quick as possible, finding Dean Wade open in the corner on the first possession of the night. He drilled the three for his first Sixers points. Embiid threw a behind-the-back bounce pass to Edgecombe who hit a much-needed three off his own as the Sixers got off to a 10-1 start. They seemed to be having fun early, even if Maxey’s lob attempt was too high for Edgecombe.
- Milwaukee’s dribble penetration got them started. They scored 12 of their first 13 points in the paint. The Sixers were finishing possessions fairly well, but Jaquez is always able to fly in there and grab a putback or two a quarter against this team.
- Edgecombe had played great complementary basketball so far, but he had only made one three-pointer over the first two games of the season. He hit three in the opening quarter — two of them were impressively made as he was still very much nursing a shot to the groin he took a few possessions earlier.
- It wasn’t a huge shock Labaron Philon Jr. didn’t play in the Sixers first two games, but it was still good to see him check in early in this one. He got an open three for his first NBA shot attempt but the good look didn’t fall. His first 3:11 shift was pretty quiet with Maxey out there running the point and Brown getting into a groove of his own. Kyle Kuzma put Adem Bona on a nasty poster, but Maxey banking in a half court kept the Sixers up nine after one.
Second Quarter
- Two quick threes from the Bucks started a 15-2 run to take their first lead of the night. The Sixers missed some open jumpers during this stretch, but got swatted away on a couple attempts to drive to the basket. Bona had another rough stint, picking up two quick fouls while not stopping any of the Bucks’ challengers at the rim.
- Upon returning to the game Embiid earned a trip to the line and knocked down a midrange to stop the bleeding, but the offense felt like it was falling into stagnation. They made just two of their first 15 shots, with a lot of those looks inside the arc getting bottled up.
- Ironically, it was one of the better halves the Sixers have had so far shooting the three, making 10-of-24 attempts. It helped them hang around through shaky play because everything the Bucks were getting was coming from inside the arc.
- Coming out of a timeout, the Sixers forced a loose ball that made it’s way to Brown, who threw a gorgeous full-court bounce pass to Maxey to complete the fast break. Embiid was then able to steal the ball as the Bucks were trying to get out of the backcourt and made a nice find to a cutting Jabari Walker, who’s layup drew a foul.
- Brown drilled another three from the corner, but they surrendered a second-chance opportunity to Ryan Rollins and put Kel’el Ware at the line with five seconds left in the half. The Bucks had a 13-8 edge in second-chance points and a 19-5 advantage in fast break points, but they trailed the Sixers by four at the half.
Third Quarter
- Brown was able to draw Myles Turner’s fourth foul of the night on a drive to the basket, but Edgecombe picked up his fourth just as quickly trying to get around a screen and was subbed out. A couple baskets from Tyler Herro put the Bucks on the seesaw with the Sixers early in the half.
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was favoring his back after a play in the first quarter and did a bit again after drawing an offensive foul in the third. It will be worth keeping tabs on if that impacts his availability for the second half of this back-to-back.
- Giving the ball to one of their stars has already got the Sixers’ offense out of quite a few pinches already this season. All three of Embiid, Maxey and Brown were able to get themselves a bucket as they struggled to get separation. A couple quick threes and Ware stripping Embiid for a fast break bucket kept Milwaukee right on their tails.
- The moments of ball movement they did get looked really good when it did happen. Embiid chucked a pass over his head to hit Brown in the corner, who swung it one more time to KCP who buried another three. Coming out of that timeout rookie Nate Ament missed a pair of free throws to give the fans free chicken for the second straight game.
- It’s worth nothing that after that timeout Nick Nurse went to Walker at the five instead of Bona. Walker seemed to tweak his ankle quickly into his shift. He was able to tough it out to split the pair at the line to remain eligible in the game, but subbed right out and went to the locker room. Maxey hit a beautiful stepback midrange to give the Sixers a 10-point lead after the third.
Fourth Quarter
- It seemed like the Sixers wanted to put this one away as quickly as they could. After another nice driving basket from Brayden Burries, Anfernee Simons drilled a three for his first field goal of the night, then Maxey got all the way to the cup, prompting a Bucks timeout. Edgecombe, back after having to sit most of the third, drilled his fourth three of the night coming out of the timeout.
- After the home opener Nick Nurse made a mention of how much he’s like Embiid getting to loose balls this season, and it has been noticeable how many more 50/50 balls he’s getting to this season, he had four offensive rebounds in this one. An Embiid that’s focused on winning those possessions is just as important as his dynamic scoring ability, which was also on display through the middle of the fourth.
- Offensively the Sixers put themselves in a good position to pull away with the game, but their defense had begun to slip. So much so that they called a timeout when the Bucks cut it to an eight-point game with four minutes to go. They used that to bring Maxey back in but also had to use that team to steal Embiid a bit of rest on the bench.
- Nurse went small with Wade at the five to give Embiid that breather. Wade drew a foul shooting a three and didn’t seem to land comfortably at all. He went on to miss two of three at the line. Brown had a three that would have stopped the bleeding rim out halfway down. Embiid checked back into a six-point game with two and half to go with Jaquez drawing Edgecombe’s fifth foul of the game.
- Fumbling away an offensive rebound led to a Ware putback that drew Embiid’s fourth foul and cut it to a one-possession game of the night. Edgecombe was able to grab the missed midrange by Embiid and Brown was able to knock down the open three this time. Edgecombe was also able to brush past Embiid picking up a cheap fifth foul by stealing the ball from Jaquez, pushing it up for a KCP three in transition and putting this one to bed.
