Sports Writing (USA), Apr 2 (EFE) of the conference, the Philadelphia 76ers, (117-104).
The Bucks (56-22) entered the game still regretting the second worst loss in franchise history, on Thursday against the Celtics (99-140), while the Sixers (51-27) came from winning on Friday against the Toronto Raptors (110-117). Philadelphia had won the previous two games between the two teams.
In addition to the double double of scoring and rebounding, Giannis offered 6 assists, stole a ball and put in 3 blocks. They were followed in points by Brook Lopez, with 21 points and 6 rebounds; Khris Middleton, with 19 points, 3 rebounds and 9 assists; and Jrue Holiday, with 18 annotations, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 extraordinary steals.
Bobby Portis, coming off the bench, added another 18 points, 5 rebounds and a steal.
For the visitors, a sensational Tyrese Maxey added 29 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal, while Joel Embiid from Cameroon added 28 points, 9 recoveries and 5 assists. James Harden had 11 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and stole a ball.
BUCKS DOMINATE FROM THE START
Fans at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum began passionately chanting “defense” early in the game as the Sixers found it difficult to finish on offense.
Everything came out for the Bucks in the first half of the opening quarter and, while Embiid for the visitors and Middleton for the locals reached their personal 8 points each, a three-pointer by Lopez gave the Milwaukee team their biggest advantage so far ( 29-13).
The Bucks had made 5 of 5 3-pointers while the Sixers had made 2 of the same opportunities when Embiid made his first basket from outside the ring.
Antetokounmpo got 10 points after missing two consecutive free throws and a tackle in the last minute of the first quarter and, after a three-pointer by Maxey, the score reflected the superiority shown by the locals in the opening quarter (41-26).
Harden added 7 points in one minute starting the second segment, but Portis, coming off the bench, answered him with the same goals and Antetokounmpo began to score it as he knows how and with two dunks and a layup the Greek reached his personal 19 points before reaching halfway through the second quarter (57-39).
INSUFFICIENT MAXEY AND EMBIID AGAINST GIANNIS
Several accurate plays by Maxey, Harden trying to recover from a humiliating block by Antetokounmpo and Embiid reaching his 17 points, managed to dampen the unstoppable push of the locals and reach the break, after trailing by 20, with the light signaling 69-53 .
While Maxey and Embiid grabbed most of the Sixers’ points, 5 Bucks players had 10 or more points in the first half of the game.
Both teams found it difficult to attack during the third quarter as Maxey pulled the Sixers to within 5 points a minute and a half before reaching the middle of the quarter.
Embiid came to reduce the advantage of the locals to 4 keeping the game open (77-73).
Maxey’s sixth triple out of 7 attempts 2 minutes after the end of the third segment again stopped the Milwaukee advantage, but Antetokounmpo reappeared with his unstoppable incursions of long steps that ended in a dunk or layup and the set ended 96-82.
The Bucks, testing fantasy plays and coming up with the unconditional support of their fans, increased their lead to 21 in the first 3 minutes of the final quarter and kept it for the next few minutes with their starters on the court to end up with a clear victory ( 104-117).
