The Philadelphia 76ers dropped another road game on Thursday as they fell to the Milwaukee Bucks 112-101 to put an end to a winless four-game road trip. This one felt a bit different though. They weren’t blown out like they were against the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, they looked like they actually cared in this one.
There was another positive the Sixers got in this one and that was the aggression of Joel Embiid. The Sixers superstar big man took 26 shots in this one as the offense went through him unlike in Miami where he only took four shots in the second half of a blowout loss.
“I like the fact that Joel had 26 shots tonight,” said coach Brett Brown. “I like the fact that he looked to get his touches in the paint. We like that we hunted threes. We had to. It was just one of those nights. We played good enough defense to win. We didn’t turn the ball over, and we shot the heck out of the three. We just struggled tremendously from two when you look at our efficiency from two-point shots.”
The problem with that is, Embiid made only six of those shots. He appears that he is still trying to recover from the hand surgery he underwent to repair a torn radial collateral ligament. He came back a little earlier than what the original timeline was and it looks like it’s affecting his play.
“I think it’s taking him a little bit of time to come back,” Brown added. “I think his tenacity and his competitiveness are at a place that I’m fine with. There are times where you can see it with his hand or getting up and down the floor a little bit. Him getting into a rhythm again is a progressive effort that we’re all trying to make. I liked the way he was attacking. He wasn’t bashful tonight.”
It was a weird night for Philadelphia offensively as they got better from deep than they did from the field overall on the night. It’s the way the Bucks play defense and even half of Embiid’s makes came from deep.
“Part of their defense is allowing contested twos,” said Tobias Harris. “I believe they kind of live and die by that. We got the looks that we wanted. We got good shots up.”
Philadelphia will now return home on Friday to host the Memphis Grizzlies looking to shake off this nightmare of a road trip. [lawrence-related id=25136,25112,25106]