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The Philadelphia 76ers (0-1) opened up their 2024-25 season against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks (1-0) in a showdown on ESPN. Joel Embiid and Paul George were inactive as the Sixers lost 124-109.
Let’s break down the 76ers' season opener.
76ers player notes
Tyrese Maxey: 25 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 10-31 FG shooting
After experiencing life as a first option for most of last season's second half, Tyrese Maxey jumped right in as the top dog to begin the '24-25 campaign. His first spin as the top option this season was shaky, at best.
Maxey opened his season with a beautiful step-back triple and flashed some improved handles and finishes. But he also took too many off-balance shots from the paint and didn’t record many assists, though it wasn’t squarely for a lack of setting his teammates up.
When you only have one star and the other team has two, you need to make a new one in the aggregate (or someone has to go off). Neither happened for the Sixers. The star they did have was overwhelmed by the pressure he had on him, fighting valiantly but in vain. He did deserve to shoot more free throws, for what it’s worth.
Caleb Martin: 12 points, 9 rebounds,3 assists, 5-10 FG shooting
Martin showed just why he can be such a nice piece for the Sixers, doing a little bit of everything and remaining effective despite the team finding itself playing catch-up for most of the evening. He handled the ball, rebounded hard, made some shots and was entrusted with various defensive matchups. Even though he was brought off the bench, his versatility will come in handy in any situation.
Bucks player notes
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 25 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 8-11 FG shooting
The Greek Freak was wonderfully efficient for the Bucks and did a great job of sharing the ball when the defense (very often) collapsed down on him. The 76ers never backed down from him, keeping him from forcing his way to the basket in the halfcourt. On fast breaks, though, he was nearly unstoppable.
Damian Lillard: 30 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 9-19 FG shooting
Damian Lillard kicked off his Bucks tenure with a big game over the Sixers to begin last season. This time around, although he wasn’t as prolific as he was in that game, Dame was a thorn in the Sixers' side all the same, tossing in treys that demoralized Philly's comeback efforts in the third quarter. He had 14 points in that period alone.
Game recap
Well, one of the most exciting offseasons in Sixers history was zapped of its juice almost right away when both Embiid and George were announced to be inactive for the first game of the season. The former's aggressive load management has drawn the ire of the NBA. The latter hurting his knee in the preseason certainly didn’t help matters. Philly's depth was tested right away against a mostly healthy Milwaukee team that's eager to avenge its nightmare 2023-24 season.
In addition to Embiid and George, Bucks star Khris Middleton was also out. Caleb Martin, who Nick Nurse called a top-five player on the team, came off the bench while Maxey, Eric Gordon, Kelly Oubre Jr., KJ Martin and Andre Drummond started for Philly.
Nick Nurse explains his starting 5 and adds that he sees Caleb Martin as a top-5 player on the roster but prefers his energy off the bench. Nurse said he’ll play starter-level minutes pic.twitter.com/qYHqfmXL76
— Sam DiGiovanni (@BySamDiGiovanni) October 23, 2024
1st half
The Bucks put Gary Trent Jr. on Maxey to open the game while Oubre guarded Lillard and Martin took Giannis. Although Brook Lopez did a great job protecting the rim early on, the Sixers crashed the glass hard, scoring six second-chance points. Their frequent swooping in from the wings to corral boards showed what they learned from last year’s playoff defeat. Drummond, of course, collected some O-boards, too.
Guerschon Yabusele got his first minutes as a Sixer at power forward next to Drummond. It wasn’t clear if he would get a lot of burn at that spot with Embiid out, as he's also the backup center and Adem Bona still has more work to do. Yabu pumped up the crowd by burying a corner triple and eventually slid down to the five when Drummond subbed out. Against a big, physical Milwaukee team, it made sense to go big.
However, when the Sixers made the switch to go small, Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis found their way to scoring opportunities down low. Philly managed to lead after the first quarter by taking 10 more shot attempts and going to Maxey in the final possession. Poor A.J. Green got cooked off the dribble and watched as Maxey dropped in a finger-roll, wrong-leg layup.
Maxey was subbed back into the game just for that final possession and then watched as the Bucks began the second quarter with a run. Kenyon Martin's kid tried his best to stay in front of Thanasis Antetokounmpo's brother, managing to stonewall him here and there, but Milwaukee's frolicking in the open court often resulted in scores.
A few minutes after Maxey subbed back in, he drew his first shooting foul of the night. He went back to his floater, too, as he tried to get the Sixers out of their hole. A strong shooting groove was hard to come by for the lone Sixers star, as he went into the break with three of his fellow starters having racked up three fouls each and no other teammate scoring in double digits.
At the break, the 76ers trailed 58-47.
2nd half
The Martins swapped places to start the third quarter. Caleb took on the Lillard assignment while Drummond was placed on Giannis, moving Oubre to Lopez. Drummond picked him up from baseline to baseline but was whistled for his fourth foul of the game on a drive. Milwaukee picked apart Philly's defense, scoring 12 points in just over three minutes, all of which were set up by the two stars in white and green.
Once the Sixers managed to make some stops, Maxey sprinted the ball up the floor, resulting in some early shot-clock attempts that Philly cashed in on through more second-chance opportunities. Then the stops…well, stopped. The Bucks had to work deeper into the shot clock on offense but still had no problems scoring in bunches. The new-look Sixers showed that they still have some familiarity to form on defense in particular.
Ricky Council IV checked in with five minutes left in the third quarter. He was just the ninth player Nurse turned to in this game, making for a short rotation even for his standards. Try as the Sixers did to chip away, Lillard was right there every time with a big shot to flirt with a 20-point lead. Council got a three to drop, as well, a nice sign of his development.
Even as the lead ballooned to 22, the Sixers didn’t go down easy. They managed to get it down to 13 with over seven minutes left thanks to some fast-break buckets and an acrobatic Maxey layup. Lopez snuffed out the comeback attempt with strong rejections at the rim, keeping Philly at bay.
Jared McCain made his NBA debut in garbage time before the rest of the regulars were pulled and Bona played his first minutes in the league. Each rookie scored a bucket.
Assorted observations
- Martin coming off the bench may not mean much if he plays a starter's worth of minutes anyway but it seems to be a self-imposed check on the starting five. If he's a top-five player, he should at least start when Embiid and/or George are out.
- Antetokounmpo hit the Chick-fil-A Bricken for Chicken promotion twice. No one does it like him.
The 76ers return to action Friday against the Toronto Raptors at 7:00 P.M. EST.
