Philadelphia 76ers 101-112 Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo again dropped a big double-double of 36 points and 20 rebounds at the Fiserv Forum on Thursday, helping the Bucks claim their third straight win while giving the 76ers a fourth consecutive loss.

The last time the two teams met was the 2019 Christmas Game when the 76ers smashed the Bucks 121-109 at the Wells Fargo Center. Antetokounmpo missed 19 of his 27 attempts in the worst shooting game of his career.

On Thursday, the Bucks took the chance to get vengeance at home.

To be fair, Philadelphia have the best defensive resources in the league to limit Antetokounmpo. Their size, power and use of zone defense were quite effective in defending the Greek Freak who was only 4-15 in jump shooting and 1-7 from the 3-point line.

However, when Antetokounmpo did not have to face Philadelphia's multi-layer defense in half-court offense and could make his strides towards the rim in transition, he was mostly unstoppable, even in front of Joel Embiid, one of the league's best defensive centers. Besides, Antetokounmpo continued to improve his passing which kept going to open teammates from downtown.

In fact, the 76ers had a similar guy to Antetokounmpo who plays the best in fast break – Ben Simmons who went efficiently 5-6 to put down 11 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. Nonetheless, one decisive difference between him and Antetokounmpo was individual offensive willpower. Having played 41 minutes on the court, Simmons only took six shots and four free throws. By contrast, Antetokounmpo shot 25 times and gained 12 free throws in 35 minutes. Though Simmons' passing was remarkable, perhaps better than Antetokounmpo's, as long as Simmons could not pose enough threat by himself in individual attack, he could never meet the team's expectations of him.

One interesting thing about Thursday's game was in 3-pointers. The 76ers, who have been known for lacking shooting range, buried 19 shots from the perimeter, seven more than the Bucks, one of the league's best 3-point shooting teams. Tabias Harris, who had the 76ers' team-high 25 points, was 5-6 from the 3-point line. Al Horford took as many as 12 attempts (and made five) from there, too. Basically, it was their efforts that kept the game from becoming a blowout.

Compared with their outstanding performance from the 3-point line, the 76ers were simply disappointing in the paint where they only scored 30 points, behind the Bucks' 48. Embiid, supposed to be the best posting-up center of the league, had the most to blame for that.

Having gone 6-26, including 3-10 from downtown, Embiid only had 19 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. He only got seven free throws and missed three of them. The 2.16-meter-tall, 127-kilogram giant allowed three blocks under the rim and backed off from challenging the Lopez brothers, Brook and Robin.

The compatibility between Embiid and Simmons has been no news for Philadelphia. Usually, Embiid would receive more support because his tussling ability should have been more useful in the more physical playoff games. That has ceased to be true this season because there are more centers other than just Marc Gasol that Embiid could not handle in offense. By contrast, though Simmons did not show any progress in shooting, at least the team's offense went more smoothly when he's in charge.

The Bucks did not make any move on the trade market but as the team's leader, Antetokounmpo has expressed great confidence for the season.

"I think a lot of teams are getting players so they can play against us, so they can guard us better," said Antetokounmpo. "But I think we're the best team in the NBA; we have the best record in the NBA.

"For me, I think there should not be any change. Thank God there wasn't. I think the guys we have, the chemistry we have on the team is amazing right now. The guys we have are playing great. These are the guys I've been going to war with all season and I'm happy we have the same team."

Other results on Thursday (home teams in bold):

Orlando Magic 103-105 New York Knicks

New Orleans Pelicans 125-119 Chicago Bulls

San Antonio Spurs 117-125 Portland Trail Blazers

Houston Rockets 121-111 Los Angeles Lakers