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PHILADELPHIA – In the early hours of Saturday morning, after the Milwaukee Bucks won a very late game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night in Minneapolis, Giannis Antetokounmpo sat at his locker and acknowledged a good win over the best Western Conference team, but added winning on Sunday in Philadelphia would make it count a little more.
Since Doc Rivers took over on Jan. 29, the team had not followed one “good win” with another. This time, the Bucks did it thanks to a dominant first half, beating the 76ers 119-98 in a matinee at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Bucks (37-21) effectively routed the reeling 76ers (33-24) in the first half, taking a 14-point lead after the first quarter and stretching it to 21 at halftime.
Damian Lillard scored 17 points, while Bobby Portis (15), Malik Beasley (11) and Antetokounmpo (11) scored in double figures in the first half, while the 76ers shot just 38% from the field. Without reigning MVP Joel Embiid, the 76ers didn’t have the firepower to keep up with the Bucks, who had 19 assists on their 26 field goals made at halftime.
Moving the ball, the Bucks shot 56.5% from the floor overall and 59.1% (13 of 22) from behind the three-point line.
The 76ers stayed connected throughout the third quarter, outscoring the Bucks 34-26 to cut the deficit to 13, but presented no real threat to win in the second half.
Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 30 points and tied Lillard in assists with nine. Lillard added 24 points. Portis scored 17 points off the bench while Brook Lopez finished with 11 points.
Star guard Tyrese Maxey was the only real offensive option for the 76ers, and the Bucks harassed him enough to make him 8 of 19 shots for his 24 points. Maxey added seven assists.
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Rivers changed the pace of his rotation a bit in the first quarter, as Lillard returned to play the full 12 minutes and the starters stayed together until the 3:26 mark.
At that point, Milwaukee built a 24-17 lead and was on an 8-0 run. Pat Connaughton came off the bench and added a triple to make the score 27-17 Bucks. Portis then ended the quarter with consecutive baskets in the final 48 seconds to give Milwaukee a 35-21 lead.
Giannis reaches a scoring milestone
With a pair of free throws with 3 minutes and 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Antetokounmpo became the 78thth Player in NBA history to score 18,000 points. The Bucks’ all-time scoring leader is just the eighth active player to reach the mark, joining a group that includes Lillard.
It’s another step along the way for the 29-year-old, who is not only further distancing himself from former franchise scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (14,211) but is also teetering in the upper echelon of all-time scorers. league times.
Lillard became number 51street player to score at least 20,000 points earlier this year.
Antetokounmpo is currently flirting with a career-high scoring average while averaging over 30 points per game for the second straight season and shooting a career-best 61% from the field. No player in NBA history has done that for an entire season.
He scored 30 points against the 76ers to give him 18,005 in his career. Antetokounmpo added 12 rebounds and nine assists.
five numbers
00:00.1 There was time left on the clock in the first half when Lopez made a dunk to give the Bucks a 69-48 lead. The 76ers appeared to have the final score in the second quarter when Tobias Harris made a layup with 1.5 seconds left, but Antetokounmpo brought the ball home with just enough time left.
4 In games, the Bucks have held an opponent under 110 points since Rivers took over on Jan. 29. The team did it only five times before that date.
8 Rank in Bucks history for three-pointers in a single season made by Beasley after hitting his fourth three-pointer against Philadelphia with nine minutes left in the third quarter. Beasley has made 166 3-pointers in 56 games this season. He surpassed Khris Middleton (162 in 2021-22) and Todd Day (163 in 1994-95) and Michael Redd (163 in 2005-06). Ray Allen is the all-time single-season leader, having made 229 in 2001-02.
Beasley scored 20 points in Sunday’s win, going 6 of 7 from behind the three-point line. It was the seventh time this season that he made at least 6 three-pointers in a game.
11-0 The Bucks ran it in the first quarter to build a 27-17 lead, and withstood a run of the same number by the 76ers in the second quarter that saw Philadelphia cut the deficit to 40-35.
28-3 The Bucks record when they score 30 or more points in the first quarter.
Doc Rivers booed on return to Philadelphia
Before the game, the Bucks head coach said he hadn’t lost any sleep thinking about how he might be received by Philadelphia fans in his first game on the opposite sideline after being fired by the 76ers last May. , and by the crowd at the Wells Fargo Center. They welcomed him in typical Philadelphia style with loud boos.
Rivers coached the last three seasons in Philadelphia, leading the 76ers to a regular-season record of 154-82 (65.3%), the second-best winning percentage by a coach in franchise history. They were the top seed in the Eastern Conference in 2020-21 and Joel Embiid was MVP in 2022-23, but they never advanced from the second round of the playoffs.
As part of a nearly 10-minute pregame news conference, he was asked how he thought he would be remembered in the City of Brotherly Love.
“That’s up to you, it’s not up to me,” Rivers said. “I was happy with it overall. I wish we could have gone further, further. I wish I had the opportunity to have Joel (Embiid) healthy in the playoffs. But when I took this job here (in Philadelphia), I think they got swept the year before in the first round. That regular season, the next year we won the East, we lost to Atlanta (I’d love to have that one back as a group), but overall Joel became MVP, we established this team as a championship contender. That was not said the year before. And underneath many things. You think about we had the James Harden trade, the Ben (Simmons) stuff, so there was a lot going on. Some were under my control, others were out of my control. But in general, for me, if you don’t win a title you’re never exactly happy. That’s why we all do this. There will only be one of those a year. But I loved being here.”
When will Khris Middleton play?
The three-time All-Star suffered a sprained ankle against Phoenix on Feb. 6 and missed the final five games before the All-Star break. He didn’t practice Thursday, was out for the Timberwolves game, and Rivers said Middleton “probably” will be out for Sunday’s matinee. But Middleton took a walkthrough in practice Thursday, which was enough for Rivers to say if this was a playoff series Middleton could go to.
“Closer and closer,” Rivers said before the 76ers game. “I don’t know if I’m going to say close enough that we can think about the next game (against Charlotte on Tuesday), but it’s getting a lot closer. It feels a lot better.”