The Milwaukee Bucks were looking to regain their winning form on Martin Luther King Day against the Philadelphia 76ers. However, a tough second half helped Philadelphia prevail to a 113-104 victory.
Bucks head coach Jason Kidd was very displeased with his team’s effort, energy and sense of urgency on Monday afternoon.
“It wasn’t there, even from the start. Understanding we haven’t accomplished anything and we feel comfortable; and when we feel comfortable things tend to go south for us,” Kidd said. “We have to stay hungry. We have to keep fighting. We didn’t have the edge and it showed in that second half. We didn’t come out with the same fight.”
The 76ers were on fire from behind the arc, making 14-of-37 three-pointers.
The Bucks have allowed their opponents to make at least 10 three-pointers in seven consecutive games and at least 30 attempts in four of the last five.
“Not just them, but every team we play shoots threes. At some point we’ve got to understand what the three means to us as a team if we want to win,” Jason said. “We can talk about it, but if there’s no effort in guarding it and understanding again it starts with effort. If we don’t give it, then we’re going to give up a lot of threes.”
The game featured several promising young stars, including Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.
Antetokounmpo stole the show in the first half, scoring 21 of his 23 points in the first two quarters. In the second half, Giannis only played 11 minutes due to foul trouble and eventually fouled out of the game.
On the other end, Embiid struggled in the first half with only four points. The young big man turned it around in the second half to finish the game with a team-high 22 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks.
“Embiid, he was great. He’s playing at a very high level. He’s a very talented young man,” J-Kidd said. “We just played against someone who can block shots in Dwight Howard. So Whiteside, Dwight Howard, Embiid, you have to understand that you’re not going to be able to score every time on them. You can be aggressive and be able to be a playmaker in that sense if you can get his full attention and we’ve just got to learn that.”
The Bucks will play against Howard’s former team next, facing off against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
