Bucks Stock Market: Giannis denies Embiid and the Sixers in Philly
It wasn't pretty all the way through but Milwaukee got a huge win against the 76ers.
The Bucks Stock Market is a fictitious market run by the GSPN crew that tracks player stock “movement” following the conclusion of every game. Here’s the spreadsheet logging the game-by-game results.
The Milwaukee Bucks had an incredible start and finish on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers, eventually winning thanks to an unbelievable Giannis Antetokounmpo block with less than 2 seconds left. Let’s just not talk about the stuff that happened between the start and the finish. In all seriousness, Milwaukee leaned back into defense by promoting Wes Matthews to the starting five and it paid off, as Joel Embiid was held reasonably in check, which is saying a lot this season. Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday weren’t consistently great all the way through, but Tuesday night’s game was yet another example of those two shining brightest when the Bucks need them the most, and a positive sign ahead of the playoffs.
Giannis Antetokounmpo 📈
40 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, on 16/24 shooting and 7/10 from the charity stripe. It’s hard to find enough words to capture the greatness on display when Giannis plays at this point, he’s just impossibly good. The dunks and blocks are Antetokounmpo staples, but Giannis was drilling long mid-rangers repeatedly against the Sixers as well. There is no shutting down Giannis anymore, there is only living with his production and hoping to find other Bucks weaknesses. His block on Joel Embiid’s put-back layup essentially ended the game, and goodness was it remarkable.
Brook Lopez 📈
I was legitimately concerned that the weight of expectations would be too heavy on Brook Lopez when he got back on the court. Milwaukee was clearly missing his presence in profound ways on both ends, but how much could we really expect from a lumbering big man coming off of a back surgery about to turn 34? It turns out you can expect suffocating defense and jolts of thunderous offense when the Bucks need them most against high level opponents! Lopez did amazing work making life hard for Embiid while totaling 17 points plus 3 rebounds, although his work walling off Embiid from the glass was much more impactful than that rebound total shows. What a delight it was seeing Brook cook like this again.
Mike Budenholzer 📉
The Bucks got the win, but the stream of open threes they conceded to the 76ers nearly ruined what was a flawless start. Milwaukee feeling as though Lopez couldn’t contain Embiid is logical in itself, but some of the help was too slow and ineffectual, leading Lopez himself to waive off Grayson Allen’s help late in the game. Additionally, the offense was simply a mess for the middle of this game, and some responsibility for that has to fall to Mike Budenholzer. The real topper for this downstock is Bud’s insistence on playing George Hill over Jevon Carter, though. Hill is a trustworthy veteran, but Carter has simply been superior in his Bucks tenure. Bud rode with Wes Matthews through his slump and it worked, but the problem is Wes had a high level of play this season to get back to — Hill has not been his usual sniper self on offense ever this season. Carter needs minutes, plain and simple, and I hope he gets more chances to prove that before the playoffs.
The Bucks are back in action Thursday night when they take on the Brooklyn Nets in Brooklyn at 6:30 Central time. That’s a Playback game, so you can watch live with GSPN hosts and chat with fellow Bucks fans — fill out this form and get into our Discord server to check it out!