Philadelphia 76ers Pick Up 30th Loss Of Season To Bucks

The Philadelphia 76ers picked up their 30th loss of the season Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.

113. 89. 100. 93. Final

The 1-29 Philadelphia 76ers were 11 point underdogs on the road against the 11-18 Milwaukee Bucks. To be honest with you, if the Sixers manage to lose games under 11 points I would consider it a noble victory. To be even more honest with you, if the Sixers are leading with 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter and manage to loss by more than 11 points, I’ll still consider it a noble victory. The last several Sixers games have been so bad, that I’ll accept a remotely competitive game.

First Quarter

The starters for this game were Kendall Marshall, JaKarr Sampson, Robert Covington, Nerlens Noel, and Jahlil Okafor for the Sixers, and Michael Carter-Williams, Khris Middleton, Jabari Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Greg Monroe. The Sixers had three turnovers in the first two minutes of the game and were instently down ten points. There were a few, if blinked you missed it, positive moments for the Sixers this quarter. Okafor made a mid-range jump shot and made a nice pass to Sampson who failed to complete the dunk, and MCW turned the ball over 3 times. The Sixers ended the quarter with nine turnovers and the Bucks shot 71.4 percent. The Sixers were down 35 to 18 after the first quarter.

Second Quarter

The start of the second quarter marked a first for the Sixers this season. 32-year-old veteran Carl Landry entered the game giving the Sixers on court veteran leadership that many people have been clambering for, and Landry proved that veterans do make a difference. Landry was the only player for the Sixers to go into halftime with a positive +/- ending the quarter +5. Landry, T.J. McConnell, and Hollis Thompson were the only players on the Sixers to play more than 10 minutes and not turn the ball over once during the first half. It’s kind of ridiculous for me to congratulate players for not turning the ball over, but with 14 team turnovers, and every member of the starting lineup having at least one, fans might as well consider this a positive. Antetokounmpo lead the game in points with 16 points on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting. Jerami Grant and Thompson lead the Sixers with seven points each, and the Sixers shot 40.5 percent as a team in the first half. The Bucks shot 65.1 percent and only had seven turnovers, so it’s not surprising the Bucks lead the Sixers 65 to 46 at halftime.

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Third Quarter

Four minutes into the third quarter the Bucks managed to extend the lead by two, featuring a posterizing dunk by Parker on Okafor. Speaking of Okafor, he was struggling this game with 6 points on 2-10 shooting with two made free throw attempts at this point in the game. I will give Okafor credit for trying on defense this game. There has been too many times this season where Okafor didn’t attempt to leave his man and protect the basket or raise his hand to potentially effect a shot. The team defense was still terrible this game, but seeing Okafor more committed to the defensive side of the game was a positive.

While I made fun of MCW’s three turnovers in the first half, he was clearly getting the last laugh. MCW was 7-10 shooting for 14 points and 7 assists by the end of the third. With 1:43 left in the third quarter Antetokounmpo misses his first shot of the game to end the quarter with 22 points on 11-12 shooting. There were two positives for the Sixers: Noel was the tied with Thompson for top scorer on the Sixers with 11 points on 5-8 shooting, and Covington was 2-3 from the three point line. The Sixers trailed the Bucks 92-70 after the third quarter.

Fourth Quarter

The Sixers did it! They won the fourth quarter 30 to 21. The Bucks won the game 113-100 and the score doesn’t reflect how outmatched the Sixers were this game, but I’ll take any positive I can find at this point. Everyone that bet on the Sixers losing by more than 11 points won money tonight, so someone other than Bucks fans benefited from tonight’s miserable game. The Sixers ended the game with 23 turnovers, which is bad, but we’ve all seen worse turnover games several times this season. Every player in the Bucks starting lineup scored at least 10 points and the team finished the game shooting 60 percent.

Player of the Game

Giannis Antetokounmpo: 22 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. And an honorable mention of John Henson. Henson ended the game with 6 blocks with several of them coming at the expense of Okafor’s shots.

Best Sixers

There wasn’t a single Sixer who really stood out in this game. From a effectiveness standpoint, it was Jerami Grant who was 4-4 shooting, had three rebounds, a block, and had a +/- of +6 in 19 minutes. Everyone else had varying degrees of badness. Okafor finished the game shooting 5-16, Covington shot 3-8, Marshall had 6 turnovers, and Noel had three turnovers and only 5 rebounds.

Thankfully the now 1-30 76ers do not play again until after Christmas, when they play the Phoenix Suns on December 26th, at 9:00pm.