Joel Embiid’s triple-double leads Sixers to defeat Bucks and get off to a 3-0 start
Joel Embiid had a 28-point triple-double with LeBron James out for the night, giving the Sixers a 127-116 victory to lift Philadelphia to 3-0 to start the year.
This is what I saw.
No LeBron, No some problems
I would have loved to point out that LeBron James’ removal from the lineup didn’t affect the Sixers in a game against the Bucks 0-2. Unfortunately, it played out like a classic trap game, with Philly going into a game that Milwaukee took seriously enough to scare them in the first half.
When the Sixers passed on Joel Embiid early in the game, they seemed well on their way to a blowout victory. Embiid led the charge as they sprinted to a 10-1 lead right out of the chute, hitting a series of his patented mid-range jumpers while keeping an eye on his guards and shooters all around the floor. It’s no surprise that Embiid stands out against this Bucks team — Myles Turner has spent his career being beaten like a drum by Embiid, who is simply too big and too skilled for Milwaukee’s relatively lightweight center to handle.
Unfortunately, Embiid isn’t capable of playing every minute of every game, and when he was sent to the bench, Adem Bona’s lack of progress as a player showed for the third game in a row. The argument for counting on him early in the year rested on Bona’s use of the athletic tools that got him drafted as well as a more developed understanding of the game, thereby reducing the fouls and negative plays that appeared too frequently last season. Immediately after his check-in Saturday, Bona decided he should try to take a transition possession to the rim, which turned into a Philadelphia turnover and a Bucks bucket on the other end.
It didn’t get much better from there, as Bona picked up two quick fouls, helping put the Bucks in the bonus for more than seven minutes of the second. I don’t think Nurse did a great job structuring lineups around him, using very small three-guard lineups that weren’t going to overcome his rebounding issues, but Bona looked pretty clueless on both sides of the ball to start the year. With a potential off night for Embiid looming, his slow start to the year will become much more significant in a hurry.
The good news, of course, is that they could still rely on Embiid, and certainly the years-long partnership between him and Maxey. Their best offense throughout the night came through two-man plays involving their star guard and center, the ball coming and going as they preyed on Milwaukee’s indecision. One of the best sequences of the night came midway through the third, when Embiid drove to the rim and scored an easy layup after Maxey hesitated. just enough to set up the registration and the slightly contested trademark. They forced another Bucks timeout early in the fourth, with Embiid making a beautiful pass in traffic to a streaking Maxey, who launched a tough layup from the left to finish the job. Embiid’s passing was outstanding off the dribbles all night, and he was the focus of a few highlights in the second half alone:
Developing more chemistry between Jaylen Brown and Embiid was another side benefit of LeBron’s absence, and these two went to work in the pick-and-roll with overtime against Milwaukee. Brown quickly learns the cadence of these possessions and determines when he needs to hesitate for a half-second to allow the defense to show its hand, giving him an open lane or passing opportunity. It’s already feeling more natural than a week or two ago, and they’ve been able to create pull-up threes, short mid-range jumpers, and early attack looks by building on each other.
It looked risky for the Sixers when Embiid was rested late in the third, and Maxey chose the right time to break out of an early shooting slump to create some real separation heading into the fourth quarter. A huge pull-up three with about two minutes left in the third was the start of a one-man run from Maxey, who closed the period with a high-arcing fadeaway over the outstretched arms of Kel’el Ware.
Still, it wasn’t a serious team performance compared to the first two games. They were shifty in transition, dominated by Milwaukee in transition for most of the evening after two outrageously good games at the break to open the season. The bounce remains a huge question mark for any night without the full lineup available, and we expect another one of them to arrive on Sunday. Still, 3-0 is 3-0, and a win with less effort is exactly what you want
Role Player Report
It was the best outing yet for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Sixers. He responded to his teammates’ waning focus with the same brand of committed defense that brought him into the rotation, getting two steals to go with more deflections and pressure defense in the first half. KCP was also the only bench player to get anything meaningful going on offense, knocking down a pair of threes to help energize the offense against Milwaukee.
Reminders that he once played with another big man are already popping up, too. As Embiid established deep position in a crowd of Bucks bodies, KCP threw a beautiful inbounds pass that only his man could catch in the first half, with Embiid eventually securing the ball and going up to foul in one quick motion. Such small plays won’t appear in the box, but they will make a big difference over the course of a long season.
The other star off the bench was Jabari Walker, who entered the game and almost immediately made the difference with nothing more than smart cutting and effort on the boards. He seemed to pop up again and again around the rim, extending his possessions with rebounds and zero fouls. The only downside? Walker appeared to suffer a slight hyperextension (talk about an oxymoron) in the third quarter, almost going back to the locker room before returning to the floor to make both of his free throws. Up until this point, he had emerged as a strong candidate to start at center if Embiid sits against Detroit, so we’ll see what his health is like after the game.
Other remarks
— VJ Edgecombe took a painful shot over the middle early in the first half and disappeared into the locker room for a while, missing the entire third quarter with little to no explanation. EDIT: I somehow missed the moment when he committed his fourth foul early in the third quarter. Oops ! This is certainly an explanation. When he was on the ground, Edgecombe Finally found his shooting boots after a rough preseason from deep, knocking down five threes for his only makes from the field all night.
He’s going to put it all together in one game soon, and he almost did it on Saturday, even on a pretty strange night. Edgecombe managed to add 13 rebounds to their score in a matter of minutes, including a massive rebound in traffic that turned into a three from Brown that they desperately needed in the final minutes. And it was Edgecombe’s Jamie Jaquez Jr. strip that produced the game’s ultimate dagger, a KCP three that pushed the lead to nine with a minute and a change to go. He’s cold as ice when it counts in critical moments, and they needed all of his physical and mental strength to close out this game.
– I don’t want to bury Jaylen Brown here, because his ability to come out and crush an individual game was a key part of a third straight victory for Philadelphia. Ho hum, he lost more than 20 additional points by cooking the opposing team with domination from the middle and the interior. This is already becoming familiar!
— Anfernee Simons shot horribly in this game on a series of very good looks from the perimeter, but he did showed excellent pick-and-roll passing against Milwaukee, completing two different passes to corner shooters in the second half.
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