Rejected: Sixers lose to Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, 118-116 | Analysis

Doc Rivers wouldn’t go as far as calling Tuesday night’s tilt against the Milwaukee Bucks a barometer game for his 76ers.

“I just think that we’re playing another good team in the NBA,” the Sixers coach said before the game. “And these guys happen to be the world champs. I think we lose that fact a lot. Every time I hear, I hear everybody but Milwaukee.”

Rivers did his best to downplay the magnitude of the game and to remind us that the Bucks are the defending NBA champions. But the Sixers played better than them in spots, just like they had in Sunday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns, but left the game with the same outcome.

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked Joel Embiid’s shot with 1.6 seconds remaining to preserve a 118-116 victory over the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center.

This game showed the Sixers still have things to work on. They blew a 10-point lead and surrendered 72.2% shooting in the fourth quarter.

But this game had an exciting finish.

Antetokounmpo split a pair of free throws to give Milwaukee a two-point advantage with 13.2 seconds to play. The Sixers grabbed the rebound and called timeout after Antetokounmpo missed the second free throw.

That gave them the ball with 12.4 seconds left.

James Harden missed a step-back three-pointer. Embiid grabbed the rebound and was originally awarded a putback basket on a goaltending call against Antetokounmpo. But the goaltending call was overturned after the play was reviewed. As a result, the teams had a jump ball at midcourt with 1.6 seconds left. Harden recovered the ball, but time ran out.

The loss dropped the Sixers (46-29) two spots to fourth in the Eastern Conference standings with seven games remaining. The Bucks (47-28) moved up one spot to second, pulling them within a half-game of the first-place Miami Heat.

Having won two of the team’s three meetings, Milwaukee also holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. That could be an asset in the Eastern Conference seedings if both teams finish with the same record.

In addition to being a barometer game with seeding implications, this matchup featured two of the league’s MVP candidates and scoring leaders in Embiid and Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo finished with a game-high 40 points to go with 14 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks. Embiid had 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 assists, while Harden paced the Sixers with 32 points and 9 assists. Tobias Harris added 22 points and 11 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey finished with only seven points.

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This matchup didn’t exactly live up the hype early on.

That’s because Embiid, being guarded by Brook Lopez and, at times, Bobby Portis, missed seven of his first eight shots and had only six points with 2 minutes, 53 seconds to go before intermission. At that point, Antetokounmpo was up to 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. His highlight was a first-quarter dunk on Embiid.

But Embiid scored his second basket — a three-pointer — on an assist from Harden with 2:28 left to give the Sixers a 54-44 cushion. That basket came with Serge Ibaka in the game guarding Embiid, with Lopez out for rest and Portis out with three fouls.

Embiid took advantage of the Ibaka matchup, adding two 13-foot jumpers. He finished the half with 13 points on 4-for-11 shooting to go with 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal. Antetokounmpo had 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting at that point to go with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block.

Both players picked up their play after halftime.

But Antetokounmpo was the unquestioned star on this night , the one who took over the game and led his team to victory. He scored 13 straight points during a stretch from 1:51 of the third quarter to the 10:36 mark of the fourth.

Antetokounmpo outscored the Sixers 13-6 to close the gap to four points (91-87). He was subbed out 1:14 later and returned with 6:26 to play.

“The game really changed when I went to the bench,” Embiid said. “At the end of that third quarter, beginning of the fourth, their best players scored, I don’t know, [13] in a row or whatever that was.

“We didn’t do what we had to do and they made their run. They cut the lead and they gained some momentum, and it carried over.”

With Antetokounmpo on the bench, the Bucks took their first lead of the second half on Kris Middleton’s three-pointer with 9 minutes left. After returning, Antetokounmpo went on to score six points and record the game-saving block down the stretch.

In addition to being MVP contenders, Antetokounmpo and Embiid are locked in a three-player battle with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James for the scoring title.

James is averaging a league-best 30.1 points per game. Embiid and Antetokounmpo are tied for second at 29.887.

Wednesday marked Harden’s 15th game in a Sixers uniform. Things haven’t exactly been easy for the perennial All-Star while trying to figure out when to be aggressive or look for teammates.

But Danny Green is far from concerned.

“I think he’s pretty comfortable,” Green said. “He’s still learning a lot of the things that we do defensively. The philosophies, offensively, of where to find a spot and also Jo’s spots in playing with him, and also playing with different lineups, different rotations.”

Well, Harden definitely looked comfortable against the Bucks. The All-Star point guard was in attack mode from the start, scoring seven of the Sixers’ first 11 points. Harden started off by attacking the basket. That opened things up for him to excel with his trademark step-back three-pointer.

Harden cooled off in the fourth quarter, scoring just three points on 1-for-4 shooting. For the game, he made 9-of-17 shots, including 4-of-10 three-pointers. He also made 10-of-12 free throws.

This performance came after Rivers’ discussion Tuesday morning about getting the star to be more aggressive.

“I’m trying to get it right,” Harden said. “I’m trying to be the best James Harden that I can be. And I’m trying to do the things necessary to help my team win ... whatever that needs to be. So I talked to him maybe a half-hour on things.

“He basically just told me, to sum it up, to ‘Just go out there and be you.’ That was kind of my mindset today. So it felt good.”

Before Tuesday, Paul Millsap had only played in one game since the Sixers acquired DeAndre Jordan as their backup center on March 3. But on this night, Millsap subbed in for Embiid with 1:47 left in the first quarter. That had been Jordan’s role. The Sixers went with the 37-year-old because the Bucks go with a small lineup. At 6-foot-8, Millsap is three inches shorter than Jordan.

Millsap recorded a steal, committed two fouls, and missed his lone shot attempt during a 4:25 stretch before Embiid returned at the 9:22 mark of the second quarter.

Millsap’s other appearance since Jordan’s arrival came when he got the start against the Miami Heat on March 21 when Embiid had the night off. On that night, the Sixers started Millsap because they wanted to keep Jordan in the backup center role.

Millsap struggled while guarding Antetokounmpo in the second half. He recorded one steal and one turnover and was a minus-5 in 9:26 of action.

““I thought Millsap looked good in the first half,” Rivers said. “In the second half, he struggled. I didn’t like DJ [Jordan, for this matchup]. We almost went with Paul Reed. That’s who we went between, but in Milwaukee that was a tough matchup for Paul, [guarding] Giannis.”

The Sixers play the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m., in the third of four meetings against the Pistons.