Sixers rally late for 133-130 victory, snap Milwaukee Bucks’ 16-game winning streak

MILWAUKEE — James Harden gathered the ball and pulled up from 30 feet away, sinking the shot that got the 76ers back within one.

Then, it was Joel Embiid’s turn to take advantage of the space at the top of the key.

Embiid’s go-ahead deep shot with 42 seconds remaining capped the Sixers’ fourth-quarter onslaught to record their most impressive victory of the season. They rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit without two starters against the NBA’s hottest team, snapping the Bucks’ 16-game winning streak with a 133-130 victory Saturday night at Fiserv Forum.

“We found something late in the fourth quarter,” said Harden, who narrowly missed a triple-double with 38 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. “We just stuck with it. We got some stops, and things changed for us.”

It was a complete reverse of last week’s primetime appearance on ABC, when the Sixers let a 15-point second-half lead slip in a loss against the Boston Celtics that ended with Jayson Tatum’s game-winner. The Sixers (41-22) are now 2-1 against the Bucks (45-18), who entered Saturday atop the Eastern Conference standings.

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And much like Thursday’s loss at the Dallas Mavericks, the Sixers staged a massive fourth-quarter surge to create a dramatic closing minutes.

They amassed 48 points — their highest total for any quarter this season and most in a final period since January of 1972 — by hunting favorable matchups, spreading the floor and allowing Harden to attack and distribute. He totaled 19 points in the quarter on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line and dished out four assists, while Georges Niang went 4-of-5 from three point range during that span to break out of his shooting slump.

The Sixers began the period on a 15-2 run, cutting what was a 14-point hole at the top of the frame to 101-100 on a Harden three-pointer and old-fashioned three-point play with about nine minutes remaining. Then they got within one again, at 106-105, when Niang sank one of his deep shots with less than seven minutes to play — before tying the score at 108 on another three about midway through the quarter.

“[Niang] got his rhythm,” Harden said. “He knocked some shots and he made the lane a lot more open for us to drive and things like that. I try to give guys confidence to shoot the ball. Even if they’re not making it, shoot it, because the numbers balance itself.”

Neither team led by more than six points in the first half, before the Bucks staged a 14-8 run to begin the third quarter to open up an 73-61 advantage on one of Grayson Allen’s six three-pointers in the frame. Allen’s barrage of long balls fueled Milwaukee’s 40-point period, which pushed their lead to as many 18 points.

In the battle of MVP contenders, meanwhile, Embiid finished with 31 points, six rebounds and tied his season high with 10 assists. Giannis Antetokounmpo totaled 34 points, 13 rebounds and four assists, and was guarded by Embiid down the stretch.

“He’s so strong and he goes so hard,” Embiid said of defending Antetekounmpo. “It’s kind of like a fullback diving at you basically, and you’ve got to take it in and hope for the best. … I like that pressure to guard the best players on the other team, and I thought I did a pretty good job in that fourth quarter.”

Tyrese Maxey (26 points) was again an electric scorer as a member of the starting lineup, after moving back into that role for Thursday’s loss in Dallas. He has scored 105 points in his last four games, following a conversation with Embiid about being more aggressive.

“I guess, after I’m done playing basketball, I’m going to be a motivational speaker or something,” Embiid deadpanned.

Maxey got going with a six-point burst late in the second quarter, including a crafty transition layup and floater. That continued during a 12-point third period, when he went 5-of-7 from the floor including a three-pointer, layup and off-balance floater. After Embiid’s go-ahead three-pointer, Maxey hit two free throws to push the Sixers’ lead to 129-125 with 25 seconds to go.

“It’s what he has to be,” Rivers said of Maxey, noting the third-year guard played off the ball more Saturday and got many buckets off catch-and-shoot and catch-and-attack opportunities.

Maxey played alongside previous starter De’Anthony Melton for a stretch with Niang, Jalen McDaniels and Paul Reed. Later, Maxey was part of a three-guard lineup with Harden and Melton alongside Niang and Reed, and then P.J. Tucker and and Tobias Harris, before Embiid checked back in.

Combo guard Shake Milton, who has been part of the Sixers’ rotation for most of the season, did not play in the first half but got nine second-half minutes.

Tucker continued his week of returning to former playing stops, and received a warm reception from the Milwaukee crowd after helping the Bucks win the 2021 NBA title. But the 37-year-old big man did not finish the outing, leaving in the third quarter with back spasms. He was in clear discomfort in the postgame locker room, grimacing when he got up from his chair at his locker.

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Tucker finished with two points — missing all three of his corner three-point attempts — to go along with two rebounds and was the initial primary defender on Antetokounmpo. Reed also got a crack at guarding Antetokounmpo — who got free for an alley-oop layup to start the second and got past Reed (and over Niang) for a strong finish — before Embiid took that assignment down the stretch.

Veteran center Dewayne Dedmon, whom the Sixers signed off the buyout market in mid-February, was available to play after missing his first six games with hip soreness but did not get any action.

Harris, who recorded three points and two rebounds in 13 first-half minutes, did not return after the break because of left calf soreness. Melton started the second half in Harris’ place.

Without Harris and Tucker, the Sixers closed with Harden, Maxey, Embiid, McDaniels and Niang. It was a particularly new situation for the McDaniels, who joined the Sixers at the trade deadline. And he was impactful, drawing a foul on a three-point attempt and hitting the free throws that cut the Bucks’ lead to 120-119 with 2:36 remaining, before flying in for a putback dunk on the Sixers’ next possession.