Milwaukee Bucks: 3 things to watch for against rival Philadelphia 76ers
Well, the Milwaukee Bucks are two games under 0.500 at 4-6, are sitting right around the play-in tournament, and are only beginning their five-game road trip. It has been a wacky beginning to their title defense season with a multitude of injuries to both starters and role players alike. The team is struggling at both ends and has fans hovering their hands above the panic button.
What better way to make everyone more anxious than a game in Philadelphia against the Sixers? The two teams have had some fun battles over the last few seasons, with memorable moments coming out of them for both teams. I enjoy the games against Philly because Joel Embiid is a great personality, knows how to get his home crowd going, and is, of course, a tremendous player.
More on Embiid (and whether we’ll even get to see him) in a bit. The Sixers have been in the news a lot this offseason because of the Ben Simmons saga, which has not yet found a conclusion. They’ve been relatively successful without him, going 8-2 in their first ten games and sitting right at the top of the East. In the last three seasons, the Bucks have gone 7-2 against the Sixers, including a sweep of the season series last year, and are on a five-game win streak against Philly.
Will the Bucks’ good fortune against their Eastern Conference rival continue tonight?
How will the undermanned Milwaukee Bucks frontcourt perform against a Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers team?
I was all set to write about how Joel Embiid was going to feast on the Bucks’ much-maligned frontcourt tonight and they need to worry about containing the rest of the Sixers instead, but then we got this tweet from The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Embiid is expected to miss at least 10 days, unless he returns two negative COVID-19 results in 24 hours moving forward, sources said. https://t.co/iYfn5vyB6m
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 8, 2021
It’s an incredibly unfortunate situation for the Sixers as they played the New York Knicks last night and will now play the second night of a back-to-back without a good amount of their key players including Embiid and Tobias Harris, among others.
That means the Bucks will be playing a team that is somehow more undermanned than they are, going against a Sixers team that will feature Tyrese Maxey, Seth Curry, and Andre Drummond as their primary avenues for scoring. Oh, and they’ll be exhausted from the game last night.
Still, this is a chance for the Bucks to net an easier win and get back on track. Drummond will be a problem for their frontcourt, regardless of how you feel about him as a player. Beyond him, look for Paul Reed, owner of my favorite NBA nickname “BBall Paul”, to get extended minutes in the Philly frontcourt.
It’s still a chance for the Bucks bigs to get some confidence and it’ll certainly be nice to avoid seeing Embiid.