Tag: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Coach Doc Rivers using Bucks losing to Heat as a lesson for Sixers

Coach Doc Rivers is using the Milwaukee Bucks falling to the Miami Heat as a lesson for the Philadelphia 76ers to learn from.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers appear to have a clear path to the NBA Finals. The top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated by the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in first round of the playoffs, and the Boston Celtics are struggling to put away the Atlanta Hawks.

If the Sixers, who swept the Brooklyn Nets the opening round, can take care of business against either the Celtics or the Hawks in the semifinals, then they should make the finals, right?

The answer may depend on if Joel Embiid returns from his injury and is close to 100%. If so, they have the talent to get the job done.

Hold your horses now. Coach Doc Rivers wants the Sixers focused on just one thing: the next opponent.

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo had a viral quote about how tough winning is in this league, but there was something else he said that Rivers pointed to.

“(Winning) is hard. I just don’t think people get it,” Rivers started. “They think you should just show up, you should win. It’s hard. I liked his other quote, though: They were looking at winning a title and Miami was looking at beating them. That’s a great message.”

Antetokounmpo admitted Milwaukee was thinking about winning a championship while the Heat were focused on the task at hand.

“Just because you have a goal to win something, you can’t forget about the opponent in front of you, and I thought, I don’t know if that was true, but he said it,” said Rivers at practice on Thursday. “It’s clear. Miami had an opponent and what Giannis is just saying is they were thinking about the big picture and they forgot about they gotta beat this team, you know? That happens and it can happen so it takes a lot to win.”

Much has been made about Philadelphia’s failures to get out of the semifinals. It has fallen in the second round in four of the past five seasons. The Sixers have not made it to the conference finals since 2001. They have a great opportunity to do so right now, depending on Embiid’s health, but Rivers wants the Sixers to not look ahead.

“Every day,” Rivers added. “I’m saying it all year. We are focused on this game tonight. Not the big picture. Everybody else, everyone, will talk about the big picture. I mean, we hear it here all the time. You need to get out of this round, you need to get out of this round, and we’re thinking about the team. The team we’re playing. That’s all we can focus on. That’s it.”

Soon, the Sixers will have an opponent for the semifinals and that team will then be the focus for Rivers and Co. on this title quest.

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Sixers’ Doc Rivers defends having the charge call amid recent injuries

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers gives his thoughts on potentially eliminating the charge call amid recent injuries.

PHILADELPHIA — The NBA playoffs are off to a roaring start through the first two days as the action has heated up with teams looking to chase a championship with everything on the line.

However, Sunday’s playoff action was marred by injury: Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo left their respective playoff contests due to injury. Both were driving into the lane and took hard falls, leading to early exits. On both plays, defenders stepped up trying to draw a charge against both players.

Morant could miss Game 2 of Memphis’ first-round series with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Amid the injuries, there have been calls to eliminate the charge call from basketball. Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers disagrees.

“No. Not at all,” Rivers said when asked if the charge call should be eliminated from the game. “Unless they want a 250-250 game. The one thing I don’t like, originally with the charge line if there is any contact in that circle, if you remember early on, that was a foul. Then all of a sudden, they came up with this vertical.”

The Sixers have a star of their own who will attack the basket and be involved in block-charge situations with Joel Embiid.

“Like if you leave your feet and you’re vertical in the circle, that’s no longer called anything,” Rivers added. “A lot of us coaches argue, you’re still in the charge circle, but that fell on deaf ears so that’s allowed and we all do it defensively.”

A lot of this “eliminate the charge call” stuff seems a bit reactionary. Injuries are awful, but, unfortunately, they are part of the game. That doesn’t mean that the charge call should then be removed from the sport.

“It’s just no way,” Rivers finished. “I think both of those plays, I think were people taking charges. I think the only thing there is some of the charges people take can be viewed as reckless and so they can view that. They can’t take that away, but they can call it what it is. If it’s a reckless play, they can call it a flagrant, but none of those I think were reckless. Ja Morant can jump over a human being and he tried to do it and that’s part of it.”

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April 3 East playoff picture update after Sixers fell to Bucks on the road

Here is the updated Eastern Conference playoff picture after the Philadelphia 76ers knocked off the Milwaukee Bucks on the road.

The Philadelphia 76ers now have four games remaining after they fell to the Milwaukee Bucks on the road on Sunday 117-104. Joel Embiid had 28 points and nine rebounds and Tyrese Maxey had 29, but James Harden had an off night as he finished with 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting with six assists and five turnovers.

The loss ended any chance the Sixers had at catching the Bucks for the No. 1 seed in the East as the highest they can finish now is No. 2.

Until the conclusion of the regular season on April 9, we are going to update the Eastern Conference standings and where the Sixers are at on a daily basis while taking a look at who they could face in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

NBA Twitter reacts to Sixers falling to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks

NBA Twitter gave its best reactions to the Philadelphia 76ers falling to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on the road.

The Philadelphia 76ers were looking to make a statement on Sunday when they visited the Milwaukee Bucks. They had won two of the first three matchups with the Bucks, and they were looking to win the season series, with two wins on the road.

Instead, the Bucks hit the Sixers in the mouth early, and Philadelphia didn’t respond, falling 117-104. Milwaukee shot 69.6% from the floor and 5-for-6 from deep in the first quarter as the Sixers fell behind by 18 in the opening frame.

That’s a tough hole to climb out of. Though they made it an 8-point game, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of the Bucks closed it out. Antetokounmpo had 33 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists. Brook Lopez added 21 while Khris Middleton had 19 for Milwaukee.

The Sixers were led by Tyrese Maxey who had 29 points while Joel Embiid had 28 points and nine rebounds with five assists. James Harden had 11 and six assists.

NBA Twitter gave its best reactions to the performance:

Player grades: Giannis Antetokounmpo leads red-hot Bucks over Sixers

Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the red-hot Milwaukee Bucks over the Philadelphia 76ers at home.

MILWAUKEE–The Philadelphia 76ers paid a visit to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night looking to keep the winning streak going. They had won two in a row at home and they were looking to keep that rolling when they paid a visit to the Fiserv Forum.

The Bucks had other plans as they made 10 of their first 11 shots and shot a red-hot 69.6% from the floor in the first quarter on their way to an 18-point lead in the game’s opening frame. The Sixers found a way to climb back into it, but their rally wasn’t enough as Milwaukee walked away with a 117-104 victory. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists for the Bucks.

The Sixers were led by Tyrese Maxey with 29 points, Joel Embiid had 28 points, nine rebounds, and five assists and James Harden added 11 points and six assists. Paul Reed had eight and eight rebounds and Danuel House Jr. added eight off the bench.

Here are the player grades following the loss:

Giannis Antetokounmpo is defensive challenge Joel Embiid wants to take

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a defensive challenge that Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid wants to take on.

MILWAUKEE — To pull off a comeback as the visiting Philadelphia 76ers did against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night, a team has to buckle down and get defensive stops.

After struggling badly to do so in the third quarter, the Sixers did so in the fourth, fueling the 18-point rally to knock off the Bucks, 133-130.

Joel Embiid was assigned to Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and helped hold him to 3-for-8 shooting in the fourth quarter. Antetokounmpo got to the free-throw line often and he made 12 of his attempts, but Embiid did a terrific job bothering him in the final stanza.

“It’s not easy to guard him, but when you’re I guess 7-foot-2 and you can move and you’re also pretty strong, it becomes not easy, but becomes a lot easier too because he’s so strong,” Embiid said. “He goes so hard and it’s kind of like a fullback diving at you basically and you just got to take it and hope for the best.”

Embiid drew a charge on Antetokounmpo. Then, after James Harden made a 3 to pull Philadelphia within one, the big fella forced Antetokounmpo into a miss. Embiid made a triple to give the Sixers the lead. The Milwaukee star then committed a travel on the other end, so Embiid deserves credit for that.

“I got a charge call,” Embiid continued. “We got another questionable one that could have gone either way. I like that pressure to guard the best players on the other teams and I thought it did a pretty good job in that fourth quarter.”

That he did and if the Sixers and the Bucks are to match up in the playoffs, they will need Embiid to be the one to step up nightly and defend Antetokounmpo. It will not be an easy task, but the big fella seems up to the challenge.

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Sixers praise PJ Tucker as most important player in win over Bucks

The Philadelphia 76ers say PJ Tucker was their most important player in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

PHILADELPHIA–When one looks at Philadelphia 76ers veteran PJ Tucker and they see the box score in Friday’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks, it will not stand out at all. Tucker didn’t score, he missed his only shot attempt, he only grabbed four rebounds, and he had two assists and four fouls.

However, he was so much more than that. Despite picking up some tough fouls early, he was able to bother Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, and he was able to provide a big spark in Philadelphia being able to get a win despite being so shorthanded.

“It’s funny, if someone didn’t watch this game, they’re going to look at the box score and they’re going to see PJ Tucker went 0-for-1, had four rebounds, two assists and he may have been our most important player on the floor tonight,” coach Doc Rivers. “I said that to our guys and everybody started clapping because they saw it. It’s a great example of how you help your team sometimes and it doesn’t have to be scoring.”

That’s just who Tucker is. It’s all about coming away with wins and it doesn’t matter what his stat line says. Forget the points, forget the rebounds, and the glory. It’s all about making sure the team is on top at the end of the day.

“His unselfish play shows in his stat line, but at the same time, his stat line doesn’t show how much he means to us,” said Georges Niang. “He was tremendous tonight. To slow Giannis up, Giannis was on a tear, and to slow him up and give us a chance to win this game, and big rebounds, big tip-outs, just talking, keeping us dialed in as a unit. That guy doesn’t get enough credit and he wins games just by being PJ Tucker.”

Tucker, who won a championship with the Bucks in 2021, understands what it takes to win and he did a terrific job against Antetokounmpo late in the win.

“He got it going early,” Tucker said. “I knew if I just stayed consistent, beat him to the stop, making it tough, making him make tough finishes, making him shoot more, and get him out of those dribble handoffs, the more we can get through them.”

He was instructing guys like Tyrese Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, and Shake Milton to be aggressive on the screens so Antetokounmpo can’t get going.

“I think Reese did good early, but Melton and Shake did a pretty good job of getting through,” Tucker continued. “Fighting through the screens so we wouldn’t have to switch, that helped a lot, but he’s a great player. He’s gonna score the ball.”

At the end of the day, it’s obvious that Tucker is making an impact on the Sixers out on the floor despite what his box score says.

“Obviously, he’s a savvy veteran, and he’s just a leader,” Niang added. “He’s been to the mountaintop. He’s won a championship. He knows what it takes night in night out and he demands it out of everybody. I think that’s the best part.”

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Giannis Antetokounmpo includes Joel Embiid on international team

Giannis Antetokounmpo gives out his international starting lineup and he includes Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid on it.

Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo are two of the best players in the league regardless of position. The two take their games to another level on a regular basis and have been among the best in the game for a few years.

Antetokounmpo recently hopped on the “How Hungry are You?” show with teammate Serge Ibaka, and he was asked to give of a starting lineup of both international players and U.S. natives.

For the international lineup, he listed himself, Embiid, Luka Doncic, Evan Fournier and Nikola Jokic. For Team USA, he had Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Bam Adebayo.

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These are both strong lineups featuring some of the best talents in the league. The international lineup featuring Embiid, Antetokounmpo, Doncic, and Jokic though might be too much for Team USA to handle if it were to ever match up.

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PJ Tucker discusses Sixers’ task of defending Giannis Antetokounmpo

Philadelphia 76ers veteran PJ Tucker discusses what the task will be like defending Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

BOSTON — The Philadelphia 76ers will host the Milwaukee Bucks in their home opener on Thursday — a tough task following their season opener in Boston.

The Sixers are going from facing the 2022 Eastern Conference champs, Boston, to facing the 2021 NBA champs, Milwaukee.

PJ Tucker, who was on that 2021 champion Bucks team, is expected to help the Sixers get to that point. To do so, they will have to go through the Celtics and the Bucks. After the team fell in Boston, Tucker discussed how tough it is to defend Milwaukee superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo out on the floor.

“Giannis is Giannis,” Tucker said shaking his head. “He’s gonna come in and play harder than anybody, he’s gonna attack the entire game. I’m sure with Khris (Middleton) being out, he’s gonna take even more so we gotta be ready for it. Guys have gotta be ready for coverage once we go over that, review it, and figure out what we’re gonna do offensively. It’s gonna be a task.”

The Sixers are looking to even their record at 1-1. Despite what Antetokounmpo brings to the table, Philadelphia should be able to take advantage of the Bucks missing Middleton.

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Sixers vs. Bucks game preview: How to watch, TV channel, start time

The Philadelphia 76ers will play host to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday in their home opener.

The Philadelphia 76ers play their home opener on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks, and if you’re wondering how you can catch all the action live, you’ve come to the right place. The Sixers look to bounce back from a loss on opening night.

The Bucks are another huge challenge. They won the title in 2021 and were likely on their way to another in 2022 before Khris Middleton was injured in the playoffs. The Sixers will rely on Joel Embiid and James Harden. Considering the core of the Bucks has been together for a while, it will be tough for Philadelphia to come up with a win.

Here’s when and where you should tune in to see the matchup: