Bad defense does in Bucks, MU
Defense has hard time keeping up
“Trust the Process” is Joel Embiid’s mantra, and it’s clear the process is moving along nicely.
The Milwaukee Bucks found that out the hard way in their 113-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee on Monday.
Embiid contributed 22 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks on his usual 28-minute restriction as the 76ers (13-26) won for the fourth time in their last five games. The only game they lost in that span was at Washington on Saturday, when Embiid sat out on the second night of a back-to-back set.
And for good measure, Embiid went up strong and drew the sixth foul against Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo with 2 minutes, 51 seconds remaining. Embiid scored 12 points in the final quarter as the 76ers broke open a close game, pulling away after leading, 81-78, entering the quarter.
The Bucks defense wilted in the second half as it allowed 67 points and failed to stop Philadelphia’s threepoint barrage. Milwaukee allowed 14 three-point makes in 37 attempts, the seventh straight game the Bucks have allowed at least 10 threes.
“We have to stay hungry; we have to keep fighting,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “We didn’t have the edge and it showed in that second half. We didn’t come
out with the same fight.
“Every team we play shoots threes. At some point, we’ve got to understand what the three means to us as a team if we want to win. We can talk about it, but if there’s no effort in guarding it, we’re going to give up a lot of threes.”
Earlier in the season, Milwaukee (20-20) ranked first in the league in threepoint field goal percentage defense, but it has slipped to a tie for 10th, allowing opponents to shoot 35.5% from beyond the line. The Bucks ranked first in that category from Nov. 12 until Dec. 12.
“Urgency, effort, attention to detail,” Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon said of what the team has been lacking on the defensive side. “We’ve lost a little focus. We have a chance to get it back on this three-game road trip. We’re betting on doing that.”
After a quick turnaround from a matinee loss in Atlanta on Sunday, the Bucks did not respond well. They play at Houston on Wednesday before moving on to Orlando and Miami.
“Yeah, it was a factor,” Bucks forward Jabari Parker said of the schedule. “I’m going to stay positive. We don’t want to backtrack.”
Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said his team’s plan was to let it fly from three-point range in an effort to negate the Bucks’ length.
“As we studied them, we wanted everybody to take two steps further back as a starting point to create space for Joel and Jahlil (Okafor),” Brown said. “Then you can hug the line or step into the line.”
Kidd said the Bucks are not contesting the threepointer with the energy they showed in the past.
“A lot of teams are shooting over 30 of them, and they’re making a lot of them,” he said. “So we’ve got to do a better job.”
Antetokounmpo was hot early in the game but foul trouble limited his minutes and productivity in the second half. He finished with 23 points but was limited to two in the second half. Parker also scored 23 points while playing 35 minutes.
Parker said he was impressed with his first upclose look at Embiid, who went third in the 2014 draft, one spot behind him.
“He’s going to be good,” Parker said. “But you know I’m Jahlil all day. They should play him a little bit more. I would like to see them play together. It would be like (Ralph) Sampson and (Hakeem) Olajuwon.”
Okafor did play 20 minutes off the bench, in part because Nerlens Noel was a late scratch with a left ankle injury. Okafor had 10 points and was one of eight 76ers players in double figures. Dario Saric had 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Kidd said the Bucks have to be smarter when they are playing against a shot blocker such as Embiid.
“He’s a very talented young man,” Kidd said. “We just played against someone who can block shots on Dwight Howard. (Hassan) Whiteside, Howard, Embiid. You’ve got to understand that you’re not going to be able to score every time on them. You can be aggressive and be a playmaker if you can get his full attention. We’ve just got to learn that.”
GAME REPORT
THREE TAKEAWAYS
1. Joel Embiid showed what all the buzz is about as the former Kansas big man blocked shots, altered others and powered down a ferocious dunk late in the third quarter. Trust the Process doesn’t sound so crazy anymore.
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 21 points in the first half and was plus-17 during his time on the court, best on the team. The Bucks led by eight points at halftime. But he made just 1 of 8 shots in the second half.
3. Ersan Ilyasova played against his former team and struggled with his shot, hitting just 4 of 14 attempts and finishing with 12 points. He did sink a clutch three-pointer to push the 76ers’ lead to 100-89 with 4:22 remaining.
UP NEXT
Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (20-20) vs. Houston Rockets (32-11). When: 7 p.m. Wednesday. Where: Toyota Center.
About the Rockets: James Harden posted his 12th tripledouble of the season (22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists) in Houston’s 137-112 rout of Brooklyn on Sunday in New York. Eric Gordon was a major pickup in free agency and has played well with Harden while adding to the Rockets’ three-point game. Gordon has 152 made threes, one more than Warriors guard Stephen Curry entering Monday’s action. Houston ranks second in the league in scoring at 114.9 points per game, scoring 7.3 more than their opponents.
Charles F. Gardner