Milwaukee Bucks Overcome Philadelphia 76ers 114-105 as Tyrese Maxey Tallies 30 Points

The Philadelphia 76ers fall short to the Milwaukee Bucks 114-105 in a noble effort as Philadelphia stumbles to 36-30 on the season.

The 76ers sit in 7th place in the Eastern Conference just a 0.5 game behind the Indiana Pacers for 6th place, but the Miami Heat (8th) are right behind Philadelphia with a 35-30 record.

76ers Continue to Rely on Tyrese Maxey

Tyrese Maxey appeared at full strength tonight, scoring a team-high 30 points on 12-23 field shooting and 5-9 shooting from the perimeter with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Maxey thrived off ball screens, drilling pull-up threes as Brook Lopez sat in drop coverage. Maxey effortlessly got downhill off the point-of-attack, splitting defenders, and getting to the rim where he scored and should’ve gotten to the line more. 

However, Maxey was held to just one point off a foul shot in the 4th quarter as Milwaukee played a heavy amount of zone defense, collapsing on Maxey off the dribble and executing key hedges to counter Maxey’s penetration off the pick-and-roll. 

"let me just scoot by ya." –@TyreseMaxey, probably. pic.twitter.com/s9AH3GCnUc

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 15, 2024

The Bucks’ defensive strategies proved effective as the 76ers’ supporting cast ultimately couldn’t step up to the occasion to relieve pressure from Maxey. All of the 76ers’ scoring sans Maxey was in bunches as Cam Payne scored 11 of his 13 points in the 2nd quarter and Tobias Harris scored 9 of his 15 points in the 4th quarter.

Regardless, Harris getting into a groove in the closing minutes should be taken as a relatively good sign considering his offensive struggles these past few weeks. Harris was much more decisive, canning shots off pin-down screens and taking advantage of mismatches. 

Kelly Oubre Jr. (9 points on 4-13 field shooting) once again couldn’t find his stroke from the perimeter and got locked up off the point-of-attack as a victim of Milwaukee’s zone defense and a solid rotation of on-ball defenders. 

76ers Defensive Woes

The 76ers, once again, couldn’t contain Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s ball pressure as it caused a variety of problems for Philadelphia’s defense. The Damian Lillard/Brook Lopez pick-and-roll continued to be lethal as Lillard (17 points and 9 assists) drew the roll-man defender off the dribble, creating a plethora of quality perimeter looks for Lopez, who shot 5-10 from three.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with a near triple-double of 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists, on 9-12 shooting from the field and 14-18 foul shooting. Antetokounmpo simply bulldozed his way through one-on-one coverage against the likes of Tobias Harris, Nicolas Batum, and KJ Martin, getting to the rim and drawing contact, albeit, Paul Reed had a series of quality help rotations against him.

GIANNIS WITH THE LEFT. pic.twitter.com/BufXNX8wIm

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 15, 2024

Antetokounmpo used his rim gravity to create offense for a plethora of weak-side shooters in A.J. Green (3-7 from three) and Jae Crowder (3-6 from three). Antetokounmpo specialized in this as he brilliantly ran the fast-break for the Bucks following defensive stops. 

The 76ers hope to beat a lowly Charlotte Hornets team on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EST at Wells Fargo Center.

Mandatory Credit: (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)