Milwaukee Bucks: Grades from 130-95 loss to Philadelphia 76ers

Milwaukee Bucks. JOE PRUNTY. F. Did the players just not care or did Joe Prunty fail in motivating and preparing them? Both scenarios are bad, but I’m not sure which is worse. <p>This was a game that had real stakes for the Bucks. Although, based on this performance, it’s probably best that the Bucks slipped out of sixth place and avoided Philadelphia, this game could cost the team their first round pick in this year’s draft, and certainly doesn’t do anything to build momentum or inspire confidence among the players heading into playoff action.</p> <p>This wasn’t some kind of tank job designed to fall into a matchup with the Celtics, and it would take a certain level of delusion or ignorance of the Bucks’ situation to believe that was the case. Milwaukee didn’t just play their strongest possible starting lineup in this game, but they also brought Giannis Antetokounmpo and Matthew Dellavedova back into the fold and proceeded to make noise about how this was the first time all season they had a chance to play with a healthy roster.</p> <p>Extending beyond that, the situation was never so simple as allow the Bucks the opportunity to target eighth place. The only way they had any control over their destiny was in winning. If it wasn’t for a shock Wizards loss to the Magic, the Bucks would have avoided an inexperience Sixers team without Joel Embiid for at least the series opener, only to face a full-strength, top-seeded Toronto Raptors team, who have already shown an ability to beat Milwaukee in the playoffs.</p> <p>If you can find a through line for some kind of strategic loss from that scenario, you’ve got an interesting world view.</p> <p>It’s a beautifully optimistic sentiment to imagine a performance where the Bucks showed some of the worst cases of the problems that have plagued them all season as anything other than a calamitous defeat. Even depleted and with <a rel=. Head Coach