PHILADELPHIA — James Harden willed the Sixers back in the final quarter. P.J. Tucker broke the tie with less than a minute to play.
But Harden could not cap his second consecutive exceptional outing with a game-winner in the 76ers’ home opener.
Harden’s leaner on the baseline bounced off the rim with four seconds to play, preserving the Milwaukee Bucks’ 90-88 victory Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center in a matchup of teams expected to finish near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
Harden’s misfire answered Wes Matthews’ three-pointer, which gave the Bucks an 89-88 lead with 23.8 seconds to play.
The Bucks (1-0) led by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, before the Sixers (0-2) roared back with a 17-5 run anchored by Harden to set up the tense final minutes. Harden’s pass to Danuel House Jr. for an alley-oop finish cut the Bucks’ lead to 80-78, before his layup off a Milwaukee turnover tied the game with less than seven minutes to play.
Harden later tied the game at 84 with a jumper with about three minutes to play, before another jumper gave the Sixers a two-point lead about a minute later. After Grayson Allen answered with a finish inside, Tucker connected on both free throws.
Harden scored 22 of his 31 points Thursday during an ultra-aggressive second half, when he nearly willed the Sixers back from a double-digit deficit by himself with his shot-making and playmaking from all over the floor. He also added nine assists and eight rebounds. That followed a 35-point performance — his highest point total as a Sixer — during Tuesday’s season-opening loss at Boston.
The game’s two MVP contenders also totaled double-doubles, though Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo was more efficient than Sixers counterpart Joel Embiid.
Antetokoumpo, who won the NBA’s most prestigious individual award in 2019 and 2020, finished with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Embiid, who was the runner-up for the award the past two seasons, added 15 points, 12 rebounds and three assists but went 6-of-21 from the floor. Fans booed late in the third quarter, when Embiid fumbled a pass and missed a jumper to help the Bucks take a 73-63 lead into the final period.
After facing two elite opponents to begin the season, the Sixers next play two teams that are expected to to be NBA bottom-dwellers in the San Antonio Spurs (Saturday) and Indiana Pacers (Monday).
Guarding Giannis
This game provided a first glimpse at how the new-look Sixers would guard Antetokoumpo, an explosive and athletic phenom who is particularly dangerous while attacking downhill with the ball in his hands.
Veteran forward P.J. Tucker, who is lauded for his defensive versatility, drew the primary defensive assignment. He mirrored Antetokounmpo’s minutes, trying to keep pace with his former teammate with whom he won an NBA title in 2021.
The Sixers did occasionally switch defensively, resulting in Paul Reed (who had some success against Antetokounmpo last season) occasionally ending up on Antetokounmpo in the first half.
Rotation tweaks
Rivers has stressed that the Sixers’ rotation remains fluid, as he experiments with different lineup combinations featuring the newcomers.
The coach immediately changed things up Thursday, compared to the opener in Boston.
After big man Montrezl Harrell was the first Sixer off the bench against the Celtics (because Embiid picked up two early fouls), he initially was not the backup center. Instead, Paul Reed held that role, spelling Embiid during his traditional break for the first five minutes of the second quarter. Harrell, though, replaced Embiid at the end of the third period before the Sixers went small in the fourth with Tucker at center.
Forward Georges Niang was the sixth man Thursday, but only played in spurts because Tucker matched Antetokounmpo’s minutes. Danuel House Jr. and Melton came in together to replace Harden and Harris.
Melton provided some scoring punch that the bench lacked in the opener, scoring nine points on 4-of-7 in 19 minutes. That included a seven-point burst in the second quarter, when he hit a three-pointer and a floater and later finished inside. House (four points, three rebounds, two assists in 21 minutes) was the only other reserve to score.
Matisse Thybulle only briefly entered for a defensive possession at the end of the third quarter and regulation, while Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz — who were all in the rotation at points of the past few seasons — did not play.
