Milwaukee Bucks survive against short-handed Philadelphia 76ers behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s dominant performance

In this Eastern Conference showdown, the Milwaukee Bucks came out on top 114-105 over the Philadelphia 76ers at Fiserv Forum behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s efficient scoring night.

Both of these teams came into this season with the goal of winning a championship. Milwaukee made a blockbuster trade to acquire superstar Damian Lillard but they’ve dealt with rough patches during the season. They fired rookie head coach Adrian Griffin halfway through the year and replaced him with Doc Rivers. Their defense was awful because of the loss of Jrue Holiday but despite all the doubters, they still have Giannis Antetokounmpo who is one of the best players in the NBA.

For Philly, they were dealing with the drama with James Harden and early in the season, they moved on from him. This has allowed Tyrese Maxey to flourish and become an All-Star who complimented nicely with reigning MVP Joel Embiid. However, the big man suffered a major injury which may keep him out for the playoffs and if that’s the case, it will be a devastating end to the season for this team.

The Greek Freak put on a dominant performance in this game as he finished with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists while shooting 75% from the field. Damian Lillard had 19 points and 7 assists while Brook Lopez hit 5 threes and ended with 19 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists.

Tyrese Maxey led the way for the 76ers, as he scored 30 points and hit 5 three pointers. Tobias Harris had 15 points on 5/11 shooting while Kyle Lowry scored 12 points on 57% efficiency.

Milwaukee improves to 43-24 with this win and now have a 0.5 game lead over the Cavs for the 2nd seed in the East. This was a good bounce back win for them as coming into this matchup they have lost 3 of their last 4. They will now prepare for a tough matchup against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the 76ers drop to 36-30 with this loss and remain the 7th seed out East. They are 0.5 games away from the 6th seed, which is their goal as they would like to avoid the play-in tournament. The 76ers have been struggling without Joel Embiid as they have now lost 5 of their last 6 games. They’ll try to turn things around on Saturday against the Charlotte Hornets.