Milwaukee Bucks Explain Success Against 76ers’ James Harden

All season long, Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden has been one of the NBA’s most productive playmakers. As Harden leads the league in assists, producing 10.8 per game, the Milwaukee Bucks were focused on finding ways to slow down his offensive attack on Sunday night.

In two previous outings Harden faced the Bucks earlier this season, the star guard found success in the scoring department by totaling 69 points in 79 minutes of action. Harden nearly notched triple-doubles in both games, as he had at least eight rebounds and nine assists.

Going into Sunday’s matchup, the Bucks had a strong game plan to execute.

“He can read the pick and roll really well,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said about Harden. “Going through his left, he usually tried to throw the pocket pass to Joel (Embiid) or throw it back, or throw it to the corner. We just tried to make it as difficult as you can, in order for him to make that pass. There were times when he made that pass. There were times that we're able to get a deflection. There were times that Jrue (Holiday) stole the ball. Sometimes I kicked the ball. I think it just gets them out of rhythm. We knew that coming in. We were just trying to get him out of rhythm. Trying to make him go all the way to Brook (Lopez), or to Bobby (Portis), or to me, and eliminate as much as we can to pocket pass to Joel.”

“It takes a team effort,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer added. “Obviously, Jrue takes that matchup a lot of the night, but Jae (Crowder) had some reps. Khris (Middleton) had some reps, you know, Giannis [had some reps]. Jrue, I think his ability to just kind of, it's one of those things, you know, Harden is gonna have big nights. He's gonna have big nights against us. And tonight, you know, our effort was good. But, you know, Jrue starts it. And I think a lot of guys got behind it.”

The Bucks caused one of Harden’s toughest performances of the season on Sunday night. Checking in for 34 minutes, Harden attempted just nine shots from the field, producing 11 points.

The last time Harden scored fewer than 12 points was during the Sixers’ March 20 matchup against the Chicago Bulls, when Harden shot 14 percent from the field. After that game, it was revealed Harden was dealing with Achilles soreness.

Whether the soreness was still bothering the star guard or not on Sunday is unclear, but Harden didn’t have his best outing in the passing department either. Producing just six assists, it was the first time Harden didn’t put up at least ten assists since Philly’s March 10 outing against the Portland Trail Blazers.

With a game-high of five turnovers, Harden struggled to help his team’s offense establish a consistent rhythm in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Bucks’ offense found a ton of success with efficient shooting from the start of the game up until its conclusion. After getting off to an 18-point lead in the first quarter of action, the Bucks led by as many as 22 points on Sunday.

The Sixers never got the game back within single digits. In the end, Milwaukee closed out the matchup with a 13-point victory. The Bucks took advantage of an underwhelming outing from Harden and issued the Sixers their 27th loss of the year.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.