MILWAUKEE — The Philadelphia 76ers have had a helluva season thus far. They are 51-27. They’re in third place in the Eastern Conference. They have just as good a chance of reaching the finals as the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics.
However, Sunday’s 117-104 loss to the Bucks was almost like a reality check for the Sixers.
The Bucks shot 69.6% from the floor in the first half. They bothered James Harden into an off night. They led by as many as 22, and they got whatever they wanted in order to knock off the Sixers. There were familiar issues for Philadelphia: The body language was bad when Milwaukee got off to a hot start.
Considering there are four games left, their vocal leader had a message for the group.
“Shoot, figure it out,” said Tobias Harris. “We got to figure it out. Four games left. I think the biggest thing is that in midst of all that stuff, we still got to be mentally strong to win a game or at least to just present ourselves that we feel like we win a game.”
Milwaukee was coming off a 41-point loss to the Celtics, and it lost to the Sixers at home on March 4. This almost seemed like a statement game for the Bucks: A reminder to Philadelphia that they run things in the East.
“If you just looked at us out there, I’m not watching the game on TV, but I can guarantee you, you saw a team that looked a little defeated out there from time to time in the game,” Harris added. “That can’t be us as the playoffs get ready to start.”
Even with the Bucks getting such a hot start, Philadelphia has fought back through that. There will be more games like this one when the playoffs roll around, and the Sixers will have to respond much better.
“I think even if a team comes out and makes shots, we still can combat that with getting some good looks out there,” Harris added. “We’ve shown throughout the year that we can do it. It’s just a matter of being consistent and figuring out how to create the best balance for the whole team to get in a flow out there. Those are things that we have to figure out.”
The Sixers have four games left: two at home with the Celtics and the Miami Heat and two on the road with the Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets.
“We don’t have much time to do it,” Harris finished. “But when we’re defending and we’re rolling, that’s when we do it the best, but in games where we’re not getting enough stops and teams are making shots, we got to figure out how to do that at a high level.”
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