The Philadelphia 76ers lost 107-95 in an atrocious shooting performance against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
From the start, this was an ugly performance by the Philadelphia 76ers, not hitting their first three-pointer until James Young knocked one down with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. The team missed their first 18 three-point attempts. The last time the Sixers missed their first 17 three-point attempts was on Mar. 22, 2014.
The Sixers struggled to contain Giannis Antetokounmpo, who went for 31 points, 18 rebounds, and 6 assists. Antetokounmpo had his way with the Sixers big men, getting plenty of looks at the rim. Joel Embiid‘s presence was missed heavily on both sides of the ball.
The Sixers were without Embiid despite reports that the plan was for him to play in his first career back-to-back Monday night. Embiid sat out the game due to “heavy loading” against the Thunder. The updated plan is for him to play his first back-to-back next Friday-Saturday when the Sixers take on the Heat and Pacers in what will surely be a huge weekend in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
The Bucks came into Monday night’s game against the Sixers riding a three-game win streak since the firing of Jason Kidd and holding the six-seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers shot an abysmal 0-15 (!!) from three in the first half, but only trailed by two heading into the break. Things started to slip away towards the end of the third quarter and the Bucks led 83-75 at the end of the third. The game was all but over at that point, with the Sixers having little chance to come back due to their inability to make shots.
Things never improved for the Sixers three-point shooting, as they finished 2-26 on the night from deep. I’m no expert, but it’s pretty hard to win an NBA game when you shoot 7.7 percent from three.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the night came via a Woj Bomb, with the news that Blake Griffin had been traded to the Detroit Pistons. This has big implications on the Sixers, as the Pistons sit one spot behind the Sixers for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
For your daily Markelle Fultz video, Keith Pompey provided us a video of a Fultz pre-game shooting drill. In the drill, Fultz is close to the hoop and slowly shoots the ball. Although it clearly is nowhere near game-speed, the form displayed in the video is much closer to what he was doing before his shot weirdly changed. Hopefully the Sixers are doing many drills like this one to get him back to the basics.
Next: Top 5 prospects in the BIG EAST
Next up for the Sixers is a Wednesday night showdown against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center. What’s up, Jah?
Joel Embiid says goodbye to Jahlil Okafor: “Love you, but I’m going to kick your ass.” 😂 pic.twitter.com/h969S3H3LN
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) December 8, 2017