What is the story about?
When you adjust for snowstorms this has been a great start to the week for the Sixers.
Philadelphia bounced back with a decisive 139-122 win over the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night.
Paul George just shy of the franchise record for three-pointers in a game, dropped a game-high 32 points with five rebounds and five assists shooting 11-of-21 from the floor and 9-of-15 from three. Joel Embiid, off another brilliant first half put 29 points and nine rebounds going 11-of-24 from the field
Tyrese Maxey did
a good job of putting the last one behind him, going for 22 points and nine assists on 9-of-19 shooting. Myles Turner led the Bucks with 31.
Quentin Grimes was out with an ankle sprain while the Bucks were without Taurean Prince, Kevin Porter Jr., and most importantly, Giannis Antetekounmpo.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- Maxey walking into an open midrange jumper off an Embiid screen to get on the board was certainly a palette cleanser compared to his outing against the Hornets. The Sixers got plenty of open jumpers early and were able to convert for a decent start. VJ Edgecombe hit his first long range shot of the night and PG hit two early threes as well.
- It was nice to see Jared McCain get early minutes. With Quentin Grimes out that wasn’t a surprise, but Justin Edwards seeing the floor early was a bit more of a shock. He converted on an open corner three when the ball was swung to him just like George.
- He wasn’t hitting as many shots from outside, but the most efficient start for the Sixers was from Embiid, who put up 18 points on 12 shots. He also helped McCain have his best five-minute stretch in quite some time. McCain used Embiid as a screener to knock down his first open three of the night, then get to the basket on a drive. On the other end they did struggle again with dribble penetration, helping the Bucks shoot 54.5% in the quarter, but the Sixers were hot enough to get out to an eight-point lead.
Second Quarter
- When they held on to the ball, the Sixers’ process on offense was good enough to overcome the Bucks making three of their first five threes to start the second. Maxey drives opened up easy baskets for both himself and Kelly Oubre Jr. They weren’t getting a ton from their front court defensively, but Adem Bona was able to get on the board with an and-1 putback. When he missed the free throw, a fresh-into-the-game Dominick Barlow was able to grab another offensive rebound and dish it out for an open Edgeceombe. Barlow got on the board himself with yet another putback layup on the following possession.
- The Sixers extended the lead and then some with Embiid on the bench, and Maxey looking more like Tyrese Maxey was the biggest reason for that. He played really well off of George, taking turns drawing the attention of the defense to get each other open.
- Of course when Embiid returned, that only helped Maxey even more. Maxey threw a transition lob to Embiid, and they just looked so excited that that’s a play they were able to make happen again. As much as they continued to hum offensively, they never locked in defensively, allowing the Bucks to only be trailing by nine at the half.
Third Quarter
- George made his first four jumpers of the second half, and the Sixers needed every one as their defense looked even worse than the first half. Turner started the half with baskets inside before Kyle Kuzma started going wherever he wanted off the dribble.
- Suddenly needing to be perfect, the Sixers offense finally started to slow down. For the first time ever, they found a groove again when the Bucks threw a zone at them. Edgecombe was able to handle a double and find Oubre wide open at the rim. They swung it around on the next possession to fine a wide open Edgecombe in the corner before an Oubre transition basket and Maxey layup forced a timeout.
- Maxey and Embiid went to their two-man game to keep the offense afloat, but PG keeping the hot hand from the start of the quarter gave the offense a big boost with two consecutive threes. Maxey capped things off with a pair of lightning fast drives to put the Sixers back at an 11-point lead.
Fourth Quarter
- George’s production started to become well-rounded as he set Bona up for a bucket at the rim and McCain for a pair of threes. Edgecombe ran quick off a Bucks miss to hit McCain in transition for yet another three. Hitting his fourth out of five tries was just the type of need he needed, both himself and the building seemed to feed off of that energy.
- Piling on in the best way, an offensive rebound found McCain coming out of a timeout and he buried the open corner three. The offense did stall for a bit ,with jumpers going cold and a dump-off to Bona being there only field goal for a couple of minutes.
- It seemed like Nick Nurse wanted to give Embiid the fourth quarter off, but the Bucks made it just close enough to put him back out there for a couple of minutes. He immediately buried a corner three to keep up with his former college teammate in Turner. He missed a midrange pull-up to cross the 30-point threshold again, but Edgecombe slamming back the miss was plenty enough exclamation point for this game.
