Fatigued Sixers Blame Poor Defense for Loss vs. Milwaukee Bucks

When the Philadelphia 76ers saw the current part of the schedule they are on when it was released months ago, they knew it would be a struggle. After facing the Golden State Warriors on Monday and then the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, the Sixers had no rest time after two straight losses since they had to travel to Milwaukee on Wednesday night to face the Bucks on Thursday.

Fortunately for the Sixers, they got two players back in the mix as Seth Curry and Tobias Harris were cleared for action once again. However, Ben Simmons and Furkan Korkmaz were both ruled out beforehand. Shorthanded or not, the players the Sixers had on board playing on Thursday night didn't come out with ideal energy.

In the first few minutes of Thursday's game, the Sixers allowed the Bucks to get off to a 15-4 run. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers was already burning a timeout just two minutes into the game. Who can blame him?

After all, the Sixers' lack of energy and urgency on defense allowed the Bucks to score 40 points in the first quarter as they shot 73-percent from the field and 66-percent from three. While the Sixers played a lot better offensively in the second quarter, they still allowed the Bucks to put up 77 points in the first half alone.

“You can make a case the game was pretty much decided [early on]," said Sixers head coach Doc Rivers. “That first half, we had got it to like nine or 10 and had the ball, and then we turn it over, so we didn’t have a lot of pop. I just didn’t like the defense. Obviously, they ended up shooting 55-percent. It doesn’t matter who’s in or out; we gotta defend better.”

Overall, the Bucks drained 55-percent of their shots from the field on Thursday night. They also knocked down 20 of their 40 three-point attempts. While the final score of the game ended up being a lot closer than expected, Milwaukee had Philly defeated from the jump. Fatigue surely played a part in the Sixers' struggles, but the veteran forward Tobias Harris wouldn't pinpoint that as the sole issue.

“At the end of the day, they didn’t feel us defensively,” Harris admitted after the game. “They had too many straight-line drives, too many short closeouts to the shooters. They got where they wanted to get to all night without any resistance. Fatigue or not, that’s something we got to be better at.”

The 76ers won't win the season series against the Bucks as they've fallen into an 0-2 hole with just one more game against them left. They will need to pick up a win against the Bucks on Saturday to get out of their losing streak and improve their odds of taking home the first seed in the Eastern Conference. They haven't lost possession of the top spot yet since taking over again, but Thursday's loss allowed the Brooklyn Nets to tie it up once again. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.