Let me start by saying that I didn’t see the game live last night because I was at The Met for a show. Had to re-watch this morning.

But I followed the box score and followed Investor Jeff’s Twitter and Slack complaints and thought to myself, “oh no, it’s another Doc Rivers game.” They lost the fourth quarter by 10 points and lost the game, with the head coach taking the brunt of the shitstorm online.

Allow me to just pull the matchup data and see what everyone is complaining about:

Ah yeah. I see it. Paul Millsap got roasted. That chart shows Giannis going 7-10 against him while scoring 15 points in what amounts to 11.7 possessions. Tobias Harris had Giannis for twice as long and he only shot 3-8 during that stretch, so it shows you everything you need to know about the backup big situation the Sixers are facing following the Andre Drummond trade.

“They go small a lot and I think he moves better,” Rivers said of the decision to play Millsap over DeAndre Jordan. “First half he was really good, in the second half I thought he struggled. I thought Millsap in the first half was good, in the second half he struggled, I didn’t like (Jordan for this matchup), we almost went with Paul Reed, that’s what we were in-between but in Milwaukee that was a tough matchup for Paul, was Giannis.”


It’s hard to imagine that Reed or even Charles Bassey would do worse defending Giannis. It’s not an anti-Millsap or anti-Jordan thing; they know, and everybody knows, that they are well past their NBA primes and just can’t keep up anymore, especially against a MVP candidate.

The deficiency in this area then bleeds into other things, like an off-ball defender having to show help and then struggling to close out and recover:

 

Embiid and Giannis both spoke about this after the game, the matchup problem, and this telling Embiid quote was shared by Rich Hofmann at The Athletic:

“The game really changed when I went on the bench. I didn’t think we did — at the end of that third quarter, beginning of the fourth, their best player scored like, I don’t know, 17 in a row, whatever that was. We didn’t do what we had to do and they made that run and they cut the lead. And then they gained some momentum and it carried over.”

“The whole time when I was on the floor, I made sure that I was there to help. I thought we didn’t follow that strategy. We didn’t build a wall. And he had a lot of free rein to just attack and get whatever he wanted. And that changed the game. Maybe next time, just match up the minutes.”

It was actually 15 points in a row. The Bucks went on a 12-2 run to start the fourth quarter.

Giannis:

“I was just trying to be aggressive as much as possible throughout the whole game. I think he (Embiid) is right. I think when he was on the bench, wasn’t in the game, I was able to get driving lanes. Get downhill. Get to the paint. Get to my spot. It’s just, it’s basketball. I’m not thinking that Joel, James Harden or whoever is not on the court that I should go now. Just try to play the game the right way. And with aggression. Make good decisions, and whatever happens, whatever the outcome is, I do.”

There was more to loss than just this. They could have executed better down the stretch. James Harden got a mismatch on Brook Lopez and missed a three that could have won the game. The goaltend at the end was super close. But ultimately the takeaway from this one is that minute matching and rotational stuff left a lot to be desired, and the result is that the Sixers lose another winnable game at home. They’re now 4th place in a super-packed East, which is really crazy when you look at the standings. The difference between first and fourth is 1.5 games, and if the postseason started today, they’d get the Bulls at home, but lose home court to the Celtics, Bucks, and Heat. There’s a lot at stake as we come down the stretch.