» Bucks lose:
Late lead vanishes amid last-minute miscues
The Milwaukee Bucks fail to follow up on Monday’s impressive victory over Houston, losing, 114-109, to the Philadelphia 76ers at the Bradley Center.
This one took unexpected twists and turns.
The final turn — make that the final minute — quickly became a nightmare for the Milwaukee Bucks.
They committed two turnovers and an offensive foul in the last 45 seconds, and a threepoint lead vanished in a painful 114-109 loss to the streaking Philadelphia 76ers.
Milwaukee also gave up 72 first-half points, digging a 14point hole at intermission.
Greg Monroe, who played a sensational game off the bench and led the Bucks with 28 points, threw an errant inbounds pass on a lob attempt to Giannis Antetokounmpo with the Bucks trailing, 110-109, with 35.9 seconds left. A jumper by Nerlens Noel gave Philadelohia a 112-109 lead with 15.6 seconds left and Ersan Ilyasova clinched the victory with two free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining.
“On the out-of-bounds (play), I’ve just got to make a better pass,” Monroe said. “That’s on me. We executed. Everybody did what they’re supposed to. That’s definitely a game we should have won. We probably have a different outcome if I make that pass.”
The Bucks had a 109-106 lead after a Monroe layup with 1:18 left, and Jabari Parker made a steal and was headed downcourt when he was called for an offensive foul for reaching back and catching Robert Covington in the face.
Instead of the Bucks (21-24)
adding to their lead, Covington made two free throws to cut Milwaukee’s advantage to one point. Then the Bucks were called for a backcourt violation after a timeout when Matthew Dellavedova’s inbounds pass deflected off Antetokounmpo’s hands.
“It’s not a reviewable call,” Kidd said. “Both teams had trouble getting the ball in.”
Playing without Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor, the 76ers won on the second night of a back-toback set and improved to 10-3 in their last 13 games. Gerald Henderson led the way with 20 points and former Bucks player Ilyasova had 17 for Philadelphia (17-27).
Parker scored 20 points and Antetokounmpo had 17 points and 12 rebounds but was just 7 of 19 from the field and 0 of 7 on three-point attempts.
“I thought he (Antetokounmpo) was trying to get everybody involved,” Kidd said. “He did a lot of good things tonight. All his threes until the last one were open. He’s just got to knock them down.”
The Bucks held a 49-39 lead but were outscored, 33-9, in the rest of the second quarter and trailed at halftime, 72-58.
“When we play as a team we’re really good, but when we fracture and start to think about one guy or two guys, we get as bad as anybody in the league,” Kidd said.
Ilyasova had 15 points and Dario Saric 13 for the 76ers in the half.
Milwaukee tried to cut into the deficit in the third quarter but could not make a big dent. A threepointer by Henderson gave the 76ers an 87-77 lead, but Malcolm Brogdon scored on a drive.
Brogdon then found Monroe under the basket and it resulted in a threepoint play with 14.7 seconds left in the quarter.
The Bucks trailed, 8882, entering the fourth quarter.
A three-pointer by Brogdon tied the score at 94-94 and a few minutes later Dellavedova drilled a three to give the Bucks a 97-96 lead.
A three-point play by Antetokounmpo gave the Bucks a 102-100 lead with 3:39 left, but Noel scored off a lob and Henderson hit a 15-foot baseline shot to put the 76ers ahead, 104-102, with 2:56 remaining.
Monroe said the Bucks’ first-half defensive effort was miserable.
“We just have to be more consistent,” Monroe said. “We don’t play with the same focus. Monday (against Houston) we were locked in on both ends. Tonight we didn’t bring that.
“We won’t win every game, still. But it won’t be these ups and downs like this. We’ll put ourselves in a better position to win.
“As a team we believe that’s where it starts for us. We lose sight of that and it haunts us. We knew they were going to shoot a lot of threes. So take that away first and be ready for the ball movement.
“That’s unacceptable. Seventy points, sixty points in a half is unacceptable if we’re serious about what we say. Everybody has to look in the mirror and see what kind of team we want to be.”