Two of the best teams in the east battled it out today in a close game that came down to the last minute. The two teams have the top 2 candidates for MVP and it was an amazing matchup. The 76ers eventually won the close game with a 123-120 win over the reigning defending champion Bucks. It was one of the most exciting matchups this season and ended thrillingly.
The 76ers were led by Joel Embiid who had a monster double-double with 42 points and 12 rebounds. The big man was his usual dominant self and brought his A-game against fellow MVP frontrunner Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak had a great game as well with 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. He was also great defensively and had 3 steals and a block in the game. But his performance was overshadowed by Embiid’s 40 point performance and the 76er win.
The 76ers had an 8 point lead at the end of the 2nd half and led by as much as 15 in the 3rd quarter. But the Bucks with that championship pedigree fought back and brought the game down to 7 points at the end of the quarter. In the 4th Giannis took over scoring 16 points in the quarter and bringing the Bucks to a 2 point lead by the 6-minute mark. The Bucks had a lead by the 3rd minute in the quarter but had crucial back-to-back turnovers which gave the 76ers to close out the game. The Bucks only had 7 turnovers for the game to the 76ers 12 but they came at the worst time for the Bucks.
Towards the end of the game, we saw Embiid and Giannis guarding each other and it was a great matchup. Embiid got the better of Giannis this time. The impressive part is that the 76ers are missing a key piece of their team in James Harden. The teams meet again on March 29 and should be able to face off at full strength. The 76ers move to the 3rd spot in the east after the victory and the Bucks fall to 5th place. But as Charles Barkley said, the standings in the East don’t mean anything because of how close teams are to get the 1 seed and how good they are across the conference.
