Bucks break losing streak
Milwaukee trails by 20 but beats the 76ers, 118-110, at the Bradley Center.
Down by 20 points in the first quarter and 19 in the third isn’t how the Milwaukee Bucks drew up their critical clash against the Philadelphia 76ers.
But as Bucks co-owner Wes Edens said this summer, “Guys in Philly want to talk about the process, I’d rather talk about the results.”
The result was — after the opening 105 seconds — as impressive of a second half as the Bucks have played all year on the way to a 118-110 victory Sunday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center to snap a four-game losing skid.
Giannis Antetokounmpo carried Milwaukee all night with 35 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, while Eric Bledsoe added 22 points and Jabari Parker chipped in 13 off the bench. The Bucks took advantage of 26 turnovers by the 76ers, tying Philadelphia’s season high, turning those extra chances into 36 points.
Antetokounmpo did a sizable portion of his work — 14 points — in the Bucks’ resurgent third quarter. After trailing by 12 at halftime and falling behind, 81-62, with 10 minutes, 15 seconds left in the third, Milwaukee took a stranglehold on the game and never let go.
Buoyed by nine turnovers from that point to the end of the quarter, the Bucks embarked on a 31-5 run, including 21 straight points to end the period. Milwaukee got out in transition, dictated the tempo, locked down on defense and held the 76ers without a field goal for the final 6:32 of the period.
Center Tyler Zeller, who entered the game in the opening minute of the third quarter after John Henson collected his fourth foul, anchored the middle and made life difficult for 76ers all-star center Joel Embiid. He also demonstrated a strong chemistry with Antetokounmpo throughout the night, catching multiple feeds in stride on the way to 11 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
Those contributions came before a scary fall after being fouled by Embiid in the fourth quarter that ended in an apparent right hip injury and sent Zeller to the locker room — after he stayed on to shoot the free throw he’d earned.
After taking control in the third, the Bucks kept the momentum going in the fourth. Philadelphia got as close as four with 7 1⁄2minutes left, but the Bucks used a 10-0 run over the ensuing two minutes to essentially close out the victory.
Embiid finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, while rookie phenom
Ben Simmons added 12 points and 15 assists. The 76ers were led by Dario Saric, who had 25 points.
Milwaukee sleepwalked into the game, falling behind, 10-0, almost immediately and trailing, 41-21, with 1:17 left in the opening quarter. Philadelphia’s 43 first-quarter points matched the most against the Bucks in any period this season as Milwaukee looked incapable of stopping anything and frozen in transition.
The Bucks, who have been prone to lopsided quarters during their skid, bounced right back against the 76ers’ second unit, using a 30-10 run spanning the last minute of the first and opening six minutes of the second to tie the game. Philadelphia then turned things right back around to take a 7260 lead into the half.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
Enemy territory: The Bradley Center hosted 400-plus 76ers fans who made the trip, incited by the The Rights To Ricky Sanchez podcast to protest Malcolm Brogdon winning last year’s rookie of the year award over Embiid and Saric. That group made themselves heard through much of the night, electing to boo Bucks guard Tony Snell every time he touched the ball as a fill-in for Brogdon, who is injured.
Small forwards, big impact: The Bucks continued their unveiling of their top five players in franchise history at each position with a batch of small forwards voted on by the fans. The players selected were Bob Dandridge, Junior Bridgeman, Terry Cummings, Glenn Robinson and Desmond Mason.
UP NEXT
Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (34-29) at Indiana Pacers (36-27).
When: 6 p.m. Monday.
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse. About the Pacers: Indiana started its four-game road trip last week with a pair of bad losses, falling to the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks. The Pacers responded to those setbacks by surging past the Bucks in the second half of Friday’s game and holding off the Washington Wizards, 98-95, on Sunday in the nation’s capital. Now they return home Monday to close out their season series with the Bucks. Indiana is 2-1 against Milwaukee this season, with the lone loss coming in a game in which all-star Victor Oladipo didn’t play.