Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from 123-108 win over Philadelphia 76ers
By Robby Cowles
Facing an Eastern Conference Rival, the Milwaukee Bucks bounced back from a slow start to beat the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night and rack up their fourth consecutive win.
The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 123-108 Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. It was the Bucks’ fourth straight win, marking just the third time in the franchise’s history that the Bucks have started 4-0 in a season. The Bucks also moved to 3-0 at the brand new Fiserv Forum.
The formula for the Bucks win was similar to the previous three games. Although, after starting out fast the previous three games, the Bucks came out sluggish, only scoring 22 points on 5-of-22 shooting from the field including just 1-of-11 from three.
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However, the offense picked up in a big way in the second quarter. No player better encapsulated the Bucks’ transition from ice-cold to white-hot in the first half than center Brook Lopez.
In the first quarter, Lopez went 0-of-4 on threes, with the 76ers leaving him wide open and daring him to shoot. At first, it worked wonders as Lopez began cold and it seemed to spread to the rest of the team.
In the second quarter, Lopez flipped the switch and hit his next five three-point attempts, igniting the Bucks’ offense to a 49-point second quarter that saw them turn a 12-point deficit into a seven-point halftime lead.
The Bucks’ offense never reached the same heights in the second half as it did in the second quarter, but behind Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s 10th career triple-double and Khris Middleton‘s 25 points, the Bucks scored enough and played well enough defensively to firmly secure the 123-108 victory.
The Bucks shot just 41 percent from the field and 30 percent from beyond the arc, but going 28-of-30 from the free-throw line helped to offset their offensive struggles and their defense was able to contain Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons to manageable stats.
But what did we learn about the Bucks from this game? Here’s what I took away from the win over the 76ers.