Sixers Left Wednesday's Loss vs. Bucks Feeling Encouraged
Losing is never fun in the NBA, but with 70-plus games scheduled it's bound to happen. Lately, the Philadelphia 76ers have been on a roll. Ever since returning from the All-Star break, the Sixers notched victories over the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs, and the New York Knicks.
On Wednesday night, the 76ers hosted the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time year and they did it without their MVP Joel Embiid, who typically takes on the job of guarding the reigning MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
In the first half, the 76ers held their own as they had a 14-point lead heading into the locker room at halftime. When they came out for the second half, the Sixers looked tired and the shots just weren't falling.
That can happen when you're playing on the second night of a back-to-back and it surely did. Milwaukee took advantage of the situation after struggling early on. In the second half, the Bucks outscored the 76ers 62-48 before heading into overtime.
At that point, Philly was gassed. Although it was a tight five-minute quarter, Antetokounmpo constructed a run and scored 10 of Milwaukee's 16 points. The Sixers, who failed to keep up, left the game with a 109-105 loss.
Typically after a game like that, guys would be disappointed and hanging their heads. But Sixers head coach Doc Rivers and veteran forward Tobias Harris didn't exit the court on Wednesday night feeling like a failure.
"You could see the total of last night’s game playing that like that fourth quarter," Rivers said after the game. “When you see Tobias and Furk and Seth and Shake missing wide-open shots, all front rim, that’s not ideal for your offense, but we got them. I don’t leave this game discouraged, let me put it that way.”
The Sixers got plenty of open looks for their shooters in the second half, but the shots weren't falling. It's happened before -- and the team always said that it's bound to happen again at some point. Unfortunately, when it did happen on Wednesday night, it occurred during an important Eastern Conference battle when the Sixers had a convincing lead.
“There’s no moral victories, but at the end of the day, I thought we fought enough to give ourselves a chance,” Tobias Harris said after the loss. “We didn’t let up throughout the game. I would say probably the third quarter, I didn’t think we started the way that we wanted to, and there are some things that we can learn."
The 76ers will get the next two days off to rest, recover, and gear up for the next matchup, which is set for Saturday against the Sacramento Kings.
While no opponent should be taken lightly ever in the NBA, the Sixers should feel encouraged heading into the Sacramento matchup after almost taking down a tough Milwaukee team without their best player on the floor.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.
