The Philadelphia 76ers are at home to take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night as they finish off another of their 16 back-to-back series of the season. After getting destroyed on Tuesday by the Hornets, seeing a severely undermanned and underperforming team in the Bucks should be a welcome sight.
Who: Milwaukee Bucks (18-26) at Philadelphia 76ers (24-21)
When: 8:00 p.m. EST
Where: XFinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch: NBC
After a dreadful loss to the Hornets, 130-93, on Monday afternoon, the Sixers need a break. Philadelphia was down 50 points to a team that isn't very good and consistently ranks at the bottom of the league. Yet the Sixers allowed them to shoot 41.5% from the three-point line and 56.5% from the field.
Jared McCain had garbage-time points and was the second-leading scorer with 16 points against the Hornets. If the plan is to get McCain minutes, they have to look no further than Quentin Grimes, who's supposed to be the third-best guard on the team and hasn't played anywhere near expectations this season.
After missing last night's game, the Sixers should expect Joel Embiid (questionable) and Paul George (probable) to return to the lineup. The hope is that the Hornets game was a one-time disaster and that the team will move on from it. Having Embiid back has been huge for the team and for the man himself, but it hasn't led to anything overwhelming, as they're barely above .500 with Joel in the lineup. That has to improve over the second half of the season if they're to make any noise in the playoffs.
The Milwaukee Bucks are an interesting team that won an NBA Title in 2021 and then made moves that have puzzled everyone. Trying to surround Giannis Antetokounmpo with talent to get back to the championship has not worked out, and the team hired a coach, Doc Rivers, who has a habit of taking good teams to the middle of the standings.
The Bucks will be without Giannis and their second-leading scorer, Kevin Porter Jr. Losing two of their top players isn't going to help has struggled for much of the season. Despite their struggles, the Bucks have found success in one area: they are the second-best three-point shooting team in the league, something that at times has plagued the Sixers.
The team is well rested but depleted, having not played since a 102-100 loss to the Nuggets last Friday. They've lost two in a row and will be looking to use a tired Sixers squad as a starting point to turn things around in the face of adversity.
With the likely return of Joel Embiid and Paul George, the team should be aggressive and put up some points against a Bucks team that ranks 21st in defense this season. They could use a game against a truly depleted team to get Tyrese Maxey some rest and Jared McCain some extended minutes, in hopes that both are better for the future.
Maxey and star rookie VJ Edgecombe will need a bounce-back game after combining for just 15 points against the Hornets. The two combined to shoot 5-23 from the floor and just 1-7 on their three-point attempts. Not a typical game from either player, and it can be chalked up to just a bad night, all around. The same won't be expected from the duo this evening.
The one thing the Sixers can't afford to do, and it's said before each game, is to get into a long-distance shooting contest with the second-best shooting team in the league. If they allow that to happen, it's going to be another sad night in South Philadelphia. Head coach Nick Nurse should use tonight's game to tighten up on the style the team wants to play, rather than revert to the Embiid two-man game. Allow the team to get out and move so that they're better with and without their star center on the floor.
Sixers 115 - Bucks 111
