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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points, Damian Lillard added 24 and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the 76ers 119-98 on Sunday in Doc Rivers’ return to Philadelphia.
Rivers was fired by Philadelphia after last season. He coached the 76ers from 2020 to 2023, never getting past the second round of the playoffs, and Sunday was the 12th game since he took over in Milwaukee.
“It was amazing,” Rivers said of his return. “I had three good years here, and I’m not talking about basketball, I’m talking about life. I enjoyed my stay here. I have made friends for life. The fans were good too. There were a couple of funny comments. A guy told me that Larry David was looking for me to play golf. I thought it was pretty funny.”
Rivers was greeted by a chorus of boos from the sold-out crowd during introductions, but his team quickly took the crowd out of the game with a blistering first quarter.
Lillard scored the first seven points for the Bucks and finished with 11 points in the quarter as Milwaukee built a 14-point lead.
“I thought we were consistent,” Lillard said. “We got into the paint, we were willing to make an extra pass to find the open guy and we got quality looks. To play a good attack you find quality shots and have a lot of combination. “I thought that’s what we did.”
Antetokounmpo, who also finished with 12 rebounds and nine assists, finished the first half with a bang, hitting a layup and also making a full-court pass to Brook Lopez for a dunk as the buzzer sounded to give Milwaukee its biggest lead. in 21 points. Philadelphia never got closer than 12 points in the second half.
Antetokounmpo went to the free throw line more times (12) than the entire 76ers team (11).
Rivers attributed that to his team’s defense.
“We had been putting a lot of emphasis on defense,” Rivers said. “The last few games we have been fantastic. When you have Giannis on your team, if you can stop him and put him in transition, Giannis in transition is a problem for everyone.”
Malik Beasley added 20 points and Bobby Portis Jr. scored 17 as Milwaukee won its second straight game after the All-Star break after going 3-7 in Rivers’ first 10 games as coach.
“It all comes down to communication,” Beasley said. “Today was one of the first times we all communicated. (Before) we got confused making sure we stayed with our own guy or switched. We did a great job with that today.”
Tyrese Maxey scored 24 points and De’Anthony Melton added 16 for the 76ers, who have lost eight of 12 games since losing reigning MVP Joel Embiid to a left knee injury in January.
“We have a lot of guards and a shortage of big men,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “We are trying to figure out some things. But we still have to do a little better drive-and-kick basketball work with this group of guys. We have to organize ourselves. “We have to be more organized on the offensive end.”
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Bucks: Host Charlotte on Tuesday.
76ers: Travel to Boston on Tuesday.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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