Damian Lillard led the Bucks with 30 factors whereas Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 23 and had 14 rebounds.
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PHILADELPHIA – The community, the league, the followers, everyone needed to be all smiles when Bucks-Sixers hit the schedule for the second evening of Opening Week.
All smiles, that’s, till accidents to important gamers on either side turned the sport right into a jack-o’-lantern’s grin, with gaps the place there ought to have been – and presumably will probably be, within the coming days – All-Stars.
Joel Embiid (knee) and Paul George (knee) each had been unavailable for Philadelphia, whereas Khris Middleton (bilateral ankle rehab) was lacking for Milwaukee. It was a tough means for every group to start out the brand new season, a tricky sport to make use of as any type of measuring stick.
However they performed it and it counted, and there have been sufficient different issues occurring to study a bit of about each groups. Listed here are 5 Takeaways from the Bucks’ 124-109 victory on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Heart:
1. From ‘The Course of’ to ‘The Plan’ in Philadelphia
“The Course of” gained traction on this market after the 76ers’ decided plunges to the underside of the standings a decade in the past, their technique for bettering lottery outcomes and touchdown future stars. It produced combined outcomes, however in Embiid (and quickly Ben Simmons) it did ship some high quality round which the franchise has strung collectively seven consecutive playoff appearances.
Embiid fairly actually has been the centerpiece, besides now the 7-footer from Cameroon is ensnarled in “The Plan.” That moniker is likely to be a bit untimely, so far as endurance in Philly, but it surely’s at the moment all the trend:
Embiid didn’t play Wednesday, he won’t play within the subsequent few video games and he received shut down with a lot of the preseason to go. He hasn’t re-injured himself, both whereas competing within the Paris Olympics or since, coach Nick Nurse stated. Which suggests the group is heeding some type of rehab administration, cloaked sufficient that the NBA reportedly is trying into the matter as a possible violation of the participant participation coverage collectively bargained by the league and the gamers’ union.
It’s a tricky needle to string. “The plan is why he isn’t enjoying,” Nurse stated.
George extra clearly is affected by a current harm, a results of hyperextending his left knee in a tuneup sport. There’s sentiment amongst some Sixers followers that having guys out now could be higher than having them out within the spring.
It’s uncertain, although, any of the parents who purchased tickets for the opener felt that means.
2. Giannis, Dame 2.0 efficiently underway
A 12 months in the past, Damian Lillard confirmed up on Milwaukee’s doorstep to nice pleasure and no small quantity of scrambling. The season was about to start out. Then the Bucks modified coaches, firing Adrian Griffin, calling in Doc Rivers. It was herky, it was jerky, and it ended with one other first-round ouster, with Giannis Antetokounmpo unavailable vs. Indiana.
The ahead and the guard – each members of the NBA’s High 75 elite squad – knew they’d be dealing with a thrive-or-bust season. And what the Bucks received in successful the opener was the proper stability: Lillard 30 factors with 9 rebounds and 6 assists, Antetokounmpo 25, 14 and 7.
There was a concerted effort to mix their video games, and enjoying with out Middleton for a bit longer would possibly facilitate that. Taking part in collectively is means completely different from enjoying concurrently.
“Issues take time,” Lillard stated after the victory, Milwaukee’s third in three years over Philadelphia within the opening sport. “You’ve received to be snug. You’ve received to have an understanding. Our time final 12 months and this summer time, being in Milwaukee a bit of early earlier than camp, having the ability to join, it’s been actually useful.”
3. Maxey will make one other leap this season
If anybody can shoulder the duty of carrying an NBA group whereas two future Corridor of Famers are absent, it’s Sixers star Tyrese Maxey. The slender guard made veteran James Harden expendable final season and wound up because the league’s 2024 Kia Most Improved Participant and a first-time All-Star. He’s expert sufficient, younger sufficient (he turns 24 on Nov. 4), assured sufficient and obtainable sufficient to have Embiid and George slotting in as 2A and 2B, if his arc continues.
“We all know he’s received a drive sport,” Nurse stated, “we all know he’s received a deep 3 sport. Then he’s gotta use a bit of bit extra within the center, I believe that’s one in every of his progress areas.”
Maxey completed with 25 factors however labored for them, taking pictures 10-of-31 and 2-of-9 on 3s. He at all times has been extra environment friendly and can get again to that. Within the meantime, when he begins up the ground with the basketball, the thrill he generates – the vitality, the quickness, the cuts – just isn’t not like what Dolphins wideout Tyreek Hill sparks on the soccer area.
4. Milwaukee’s depth would possibly earn a giant D
The first cause for Maxey’s ugly taking pictures efficiency was Bucks guard Gary Trent Jr., a worth signing in free company know for his defensive tenacity. Trent made life as depressing as anybody man might for the Sixers guard and provides Milwaukee a significantly better choice to assign to potent scorers than it had final season.
Trent, Taurean Prince and Delon Wright needs to be an improve, notably on protection, rotation guys from final season corresponding to Malik Beasley, Pat Beverley and Jae Crowder.
“It’s what I’ve been doing since I’ve been within the league,” Trent stated. “I’ve been prime 10 in steals and deflections the final two or three seasons.
“Our entire sport plan was to make it arduous on [Maxey], beginning with my strain … Simply retaining second effort. A stage of vitality. Persevering with to maintain going, whether or not it was by unlawful screens, guys sticking knees out, Kyle Lowry coming and standing in my means.”
The Bucks are a giant group, too, exemplified by Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis and Antetokounmpo throughout the entrance at any given time. Nurse even chided his guys a bit of for daring to problem Lopez, who did a pleasant job of venturing out however hurrying again. He blocked six pictures.
5. Sixers’ different part-time middle will assist
Since Embiid is following The Plan and already had stated he wasn’t prone to play each ends of any back-to-back scheduling, the difficulty of the place these minutes go looms giant. Fortuitously for Philadelphia, huge Andre Drummond was an under-the-radar signing in July. Drummond, a 12-year vet who’s nonetheless solely 31, has bounced round in current seasons (that is his second stint with the Sixers).
However the previous two years in Chicago, backing up Nikola Vučević, Drummond averaged 17.4 factors and 18.9 rebounds per 36 minutes. These are greater pro-rated numbers than he posted in his first eight seasons in Detroit, when he was a two-time All-Star. Drummond had 10 factors and 13 boards in 25 minutes Wednesday.
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Steve Aschburner has written in regards to the NBA since 1980. You possibly can e-mail him right here, discover his archive right here and follow him on X.
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