Milwaukee Bucks vs Philadelphia 76ers

 

Here we had a battle of the big men with the 7^th seed 76ers taking the 2^nd seed, one a powerhouse in the east and one that has gone through plenty of injuries and player changeover to get to the side they have now. Key injuries I�m the series are Steven Adams for the 76ers who was part of the their starting line up and big loss and Andre Igoudala for the Bucks, the wiley defensive wing that is good for a few minutes a game. I predicted 4-1 in this series and got it wrong.

 

Game 1

 

76ers Starters: Fox, Brogdon, Wiggins, Sharpe and Gobert

Bucks Starters: Payton, SGA, Anunoby, Mobley and Turner

 

The Bucks came out strong like they have all season, putting their foot to the floor from the opening whistle and ending the first quarter with a 7 point lead, the suffocating length and defensive ferocity on full display. The second quarter followed the firsts lead with the Bucks keeping the 76ers to under 20 points yet again while piling up 31 of their own which gave the Bucks a 19 point lead going into the half. Half time didn�t halt the Bucks momentum defensively as they put the screws to the 76ers and only allowing 11 points against in what can only be describe as suffocating performance. With the game in end the bench was emptied to save the starters legs leading to the final margin of victory being 23 points. This game wax all about defence, something the bucks pride themselves on and no stat shows that more than this: The Bucks kept Fox, Divincenzo, Brogdon and Okeke to 6-48 shooting from the field for the game.  That�s 8 percent. Mind. Blown!

 

Game 2

 

76ers Starters: Fox, Brogdon, Wiggins, Sharpe and Gobert

Bucks Starters: Payton, SGA, Anunoby, Mobley and Turner

 

No line up changes to the starters for either team going in game 2 with one side going the first result was an aberration and the other wanting to carry on the momentum it had built in the first and build on the first they did. This game was over after the first quarter after a 32-8 start in the Bucks favor. The benches we emptied not long after yet the Bucks continued to pour it on with a 31-21 second quarter, 25-20 third quarter and 29-127 final quarter to bring the winning margin up to 51 points. Rebounds were the key to victory here with the Bucks dominating the boards to the tune of 68 to 39.

 

Game 4

 

76ers Starters: Fox, Wiggins, Okeke, Yurtseven and Gobert

Bucks Starters: Payton, SGA, Anunoby, Mobley and Turner

 

Ben had seen enough and made three changes to his starting line up. Wiggins was moved from the 3 to the 2, Okeke got promoted to them starters at the 3 and Yurtseven got promoted to the 4 position to try and help with the rebounding. In that regard it worked with the 76ers winning the rebound battle 54-53 in what was a much tighter match than previously seen in the series. Each team won two quarters a piece but the Bucks really took advantage in their 2, winning the quarters by over double digits in each. It was the 76ers best scoring game of the series but ultimately still wasn�t enough with the Bucks offensive efficiency being too much for Philly to overcome leading to a 18 point margin in favor of Milwaukee.

 

Game 4

 

76ers Starters: Fox, Brogdon, Wiggins, Okeke and Gobert

Bucks Starters: Payton, SGA, Anunoby, Mobley and Turner

 

No changes to the starting line up for the Bucks for the 4^th time this series but a few changes for the 76ers. Wiggins moves back to the 3, coming up from the 2, Brogdon comes back into the the starting line up at the 2 guard position and Okeke slides up to the 4. This is a bit of a smaller line up that Philly fans would be used to but is extremely athletic with 3 electric athletes in Fox, Wiggins and Okeke it looks like the plan was to get up and down the floor a bit quicker against the size of the Bucks. It worked with the 76ers having their best start in the series and having a 6 point lead coming into the first break, a great team like the bucks can�t be kept down for long though with them clawing their way back to be back equal at the halftime buzzer. After a halftime rev up by (my guess) once other than Ben himself Philly come out hard again from the break and ended up winning the quarter by 3 points and being the closest they�ve been to the Bucks all series. Fox did everything he could to rally his teams down the stretch and to hold onto their lead but to no avail has the Bucks pulled out small the stops and ended up coming up with a 5 point victory, the closest in the series by far.

 

Congratulations to Daz and his Bucks advancing to the second round and commiserations to Ben and the 76ers who put up a brave fight ultimately couldn�t match the offensive firepower of Milwaukee.