Sixers’ Winning Streak Comes to an End in Overtime Loss to Milwaukee
The 76ers’ six game winning streak comes to an end after an overtime loss against the Milwaukee Bucks, 109-105. The heartbreaker comes on the back of a Ben Simmons triple double (13 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists), and Danny Green with his six made threes. Seth Curry left in the 3rd quarter with a sprained left ankle, and it seemed like the Sixers’ legs were just tired on the second leg of a back -to-back. Even while holding Giannis to four points in the first half, and the Bucks to only 31 points, Antetokounmpo still finished with 32, most of them coming in the 4th quarter and overtime.
The Sixers relied heavily on their defensive effort early on and shut the Bucks offense down for the majority of this ball game, but Philadelphia went cold on a late stretch and allowed Milwaukee to climb back into the game. If it weren’t for back to back to back three pointers by Shake Milton, Danny Green, and Furkan Korkmaz, the Sixers could have lost in a miserable meltdown. Rather, they lost in a dull and lifeless overtime period.
Ben Simmons had a quiet offensive night, only scoring 13 points, but had another night filling up the stat sheet and another night of stifling defense. Tobias Harris was a massive help defensively, but struggled on the other end late and was an abysmal 8/23 from the floor. It was a polar opposite game from the previous night, but understandable following a very strong stretch from Tobi. Dwight Howard had another solid night with 13 points and 15 rebounds, his play through the absence of Embiid has been exceptional and even started expanding the range by knocking down a couple jumpers in tonight’s game.
Milwaukee was led by, of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo who scored 28 of his 32 points in the 4th quarter and overtime, but was nicely supplemented by former Sixer, Jrue Holiday who added 19 points along with some solid perimeter defense.
This game is hard to be upset about. Of course, the Sixers did blow a big lead, but one thing is for certain: The Sixers win this game 10 out of 10 times with Joel Embiid in the lineup. I would expect to see Embiid taking a seat on the court just like Giannis did last night the next time the Sixers face the Bucks.
Up Next: The 76ers next game will be Saturday at home against the Sacramento Kings.
Mandatory Credit: USA Today
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