OK Now It's Time to Get Worried: Sixers Drop Game Two To Bucks in Milwaukee

The Sixers have left themselves no room for error.

[photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images]

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I guess that's the thing about feel-good losses, huh? They still count as losses. Pair 'em with other losses, now suddenly we've got a problem. 

The Sixers came to Milwaukee hoping for some freshly sourced, reasonably priced cheese curds and a road split. Can't vouch yet for whether or not they got the former -- hopefully Tobias Harris remembered a couple good spots from his time as a Wisconsinite -- but can confirm they did not get the latter. Philly lost a relatively tight but also relatively undramatic Game Two by a score of 117-108, and now they come back home to Philly needing to win four of their next five, basically already on the brink of oblivion. Not great, Brett!

Finally, to start the second half, the coach switched Embiid on Giannis, allowing Ben to take the Middleton assignment and sticking Tobias on Lopez. The latter matchups led to a couple brutally easy post-ups for the Bucks' seven-plus-foot center over our seven-minus-foot forward, but Simmons and Embiid were finally able to at least put some roadblocks in between the Bucks' all-stars and the basket. Giannis still got his, ending the game with 33 on 11-22 shooting, but Middleton only found the bottom of the net twice in the second half, finishing with 21 on the night, as Simmons forced him into his mid-range game and his shots suddenly started finding rim. 

Meanwhile, the Sixers crept closer, as Joel was hitting from both outside and in -- his two-man game with Furkan Korkmaz during those late stretches in the third quarter has really proven to be a reliable weapon in these playoffs -- and both Simmons and Shake Milton proved able to get to the bucket, even against the staunch Milwaukee interior defense. The three-point shooting started slow but evened late, and the Sixers were able to cut the deficit to as little as four midway through the fourth quarter. But the Sixers got stuck on the Tuesday side of the hump, and a Giannis and-one followed by a George Hill triple with about three minutes to go widened the lead to where Philly never legitimately threatened again. 

"Yeah, look, I know some people wanted us to switch things up with our defensive strategy a little earlier than we did," allowed Brett, now looking fully back in third-term president mode, after the game. "And I get that. But they have to realize that Joel guarding Giannis for 40 minutes across six or seven games... we just don't see that as sustainable. We need Jo's rim protection, and we need his offense, and we don't know if we can ask him to do all of that and also guard the reigning MVP throughout this entire series." 

Brown was also asked about whether they might try giving Horford -- who played just 18 minutes in this one, including some scattered and sporadically successful minutes on Antetokounmpo -- more of a bump in playing time, or even a look in the starting lineup. "We'll talk about it, certainly," was Brett's always-diplomatic answer. "We know that Al brings some things to the table that we might need a little more of in this series than we did against Miami, so we'll certainly see if we can take better advantage of those back in Philly." 

Of course, why it took a game and a half for Brett to start implementing any such judgments will certainly be a discussion for the next few days of talk radio in Philly, as the Fire Brett Brown brigade never rests to begin with, and have been downright Neil Peart-ish with the drum-beating in this series. Personally... I can't say I'm thrilled with his slow reactiveness through two games either, though I understand the need to keep things a little light for Jo (who has played 38 and 39 minutes in the two games so far this series, respectively). It was worth trying with Simmons (maybe?) but we don't really have much time to play around with hoping we can survive certain matchups when it's increasingly clear that we're drowning in those minutes. Horford back in the starting lineup is an emergency failsafe, but those panic alarms are starting to get pretty fucking loud. 

Our friends Amos Lee and Mutlu are stuck at home like the rest of us. They joined us for a monster podcast talking about whether Joel and Ben will ever get it together, their friendship, drinking and sobriety, the future of music and how it finds a way through Covid-19, the best TV theme songs of all time, Mutlu's love for 94WIP and a lot more.

"I'll take whatever assignment Coach gives me," said a frustrated but not yet despondent Embiid after the game. "Lopez, Giannis, Middleton... I think I'm the best defensive player in the world, and being the best defensive player means you have to be ready to defend anyone, any position. I understand Coach doesn't want me to get worn out, but I'm feeling good and I think I'm playing good too. 32 points tonight, 25 and 12 in Game One... he can trust me, he doesn't have to baby me." 

So, freakout level at an... 8-ish, then? Doesn't feel quite as bad as last series, down 2-1 to the Heat and needing to win Game Four in Miami lest Jimmy Butler be flying a SAWFT banner over Broad Street before Game Five. But there's no wiggle room left, no buffer remaining. We're coming back home for two games at the not-Wells Fargo Center -- starting Monday night on TNT -- and we really need to win both to need anything less than a miracle to stay in this thing. Not a lot of teams come back from 3-1 against the league's best regular-season squad needing to win two on the road, and LeBron James is not walking through that door with a box of Tastykakes. Win Monday and Wednesday, or it's time to pivot to draft talk already.