The Milwaukee Bucks head east for a road trip that will hopefully end the bad vibes. The first stop is Philadelphia to face the 76ers. Milwaukee lost the previous matchup 116-101 on December 5th; the Bucks didn’t have Giannis then, and won’t have him now.
My colleague Morgan said it best in the preview for the Dallas game before it was postponed. Bad coach is somehow still here, an upset star is injured for who knows how long, the team is in shambles, and just when you think the team has hit rock bottom, they find a way to beat that feat. This leaves Milwaukee in a tough place, as their first-round pick could be swapped. You can’t fully head into tanking, but does anyone really believe this team can play their way to the play-in?
The Sixers have been better than expected and look dangerous for the playoffs. Which means they got blown out by the Charlotte Hornets yesterday in their makeup game, which was cancelled by the winter storm that swept across the nation. Philly didn’t have Paul George or Joel Embiid in that game, but it was still a strong enough roster that they shouldn’t have lost the game from the tip-off.
The Bucks will be without Taurean Prince (neck surgery), Giannis (calf), and Kevin Porter Jr. (oblique). The Sixers played last night so we will have to wait and see what their injury report comes out to.
VJ Edgecombe has had a solid rookie season so far, putting himself in contention for Rookie of the Year. Yesterday, he was announced as a participant in the Rising Stars competition during All-Star weekend. With the Bucks putting their attention on Maxey, this feels like a game where, if Edgecombe gets hot, he can make the Bucks suffer.
7:00 p.m. CST on NBC and Peacock.