Oct 14, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks ahead Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) and guard Damian Lillard (0) look on within the second quarter towards the Chicago Bulls at Fiserv Discussion board. Necessary Credit score: Benny Sieu-Imagn Photos The Milwaukee Bucks and 76ers every failed to fulfill expectations final season, however a brand new alternative begins Wednesday when the groups meet in Philadelphia within the season opener for each squads.
It’s the third straight season wherein Milwaukee and Philadelphia have met of their respective season openers, with this one lacking some vital star energy.
The Bucks boast Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, who might be able to roll Wednesday. Khris Middleton, however, wants extra time to heal from offseason surgical procedures on each ankles.
The Sixers had been hoping to unveil newcomer Paul George alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Nonetheless, George (knee) goes to overlook the opener, whereas Philadelphia introduced Tuesday that Embiid (knee) doubtless will miss the crew’s first three video games.
The Sixers stated Tuesday that Embiid is “responding effectively to his individualized plan and is predicted to ramp up his return to play actions this week, together with scrimmaging.”
Embiid averaged 34.7 factors and 11.0 rebounds in 33.6 minutes per sport final season, though he was restricted to 39 contests after present process in-season left knee surgical procedure.
George, who signed a four-year, $212 million cope with Philadelphia within the offseason, averaged 22.6 factors for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2023-24.
Maxey was named the NBA’s Most Improved Participant final season, and was an All-Star for the primary time after averaging 25.9 factors and 6.2 assists.
The Sixers are hoping to rebound from a first-round playoff exit, after they misplaced to the New York Knicks in six video games. They nonetheless are striving to achieve the Jap Convention finals for the primary time within the Embiid period.
“I am simply able to go on the market and compete in an actual basketball sport,” Maxey stated. “Get the bitter style out of our mouth from the New York sequence and truly get an opportunity to begin yet again.”
The Bucks had been bounced within the first spherical as effectively, with a six-game defeat by the hands of the Indiana Pacers. It will likely be Milwaukee’s first full marketing campaign below former Sixers coach Doc Rivers, who took over halfway by final season, with mediocre outcomes down the stretch.
“Do you’ve it behind your thoughts, like, ‘(What) if this yr would not go effectively?'” Antetokounmpo stated. “Yeah, if we do not win a championship, I would get traded. Yeah, that is the job we stay. That is the world we’re dwelling in. It is all people.”
Antetokounmpo averaged 30.4 factors and 11.5 rebounds final season, whereas Lillard chipped in 24.3 factors and seven.0 assists throughout his first season in Milwaukee.
“We each gotta be aggressive and perceive the moments and conditions the place we are able to use the opposite to create a bonus,” Lillard stated. “And we gotta simply belief that. And as time has gone on, we have gotten higher and higher. And this yr it will be even higher.”
Offense wasn’t the problem for the Bucks final season. They averaged the fourth-most factors within the NBA at 119.0, however had been simply twenty first in protection, permitting 116.4 factors per sport.
Milwaukee has received every of the final 4 conferences between the groups, together with all three final season, and has both received or tied the season sequence going again to the 2012-13 marketing campaign.
–Area Degree Media