Star players issuing ominous warnings on one side, team meetings on the other.
Critical vets being counted on to hit the floor running on one side, MVPs being unreliable on the other.
A coach being fined for criticizing refs after they missed game-turning calls in Milwaukee, a player putting his hands on a media member in the locker room in Philadelphia.
It’s really difficult to be out of the play-in tournament mix in the Eastern Conference, but the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers are making it look real easy in the opening month of the NBA season.
Both teams were expected to challenge the Boston Celtics, but instead of dominating an underwhelming conference, they’re bringing up the rear — with a combined 7-20 record.
The Bucks escaped Monday by the skin of their chinny-chin-chin when Houston’s Alperen Sengun couldn’t catch a pass cleanly after Giannis Antetokounmpo left him wide open underneath the rim, and time ran out to give the Bucks a win they felt good about only because they were so desperate.
Sengun might’ve been spooked because Antetokounmpo blocked his high-arching floater on the previous possession, which led to Damian Lillard splitting the defense for an acrobatic layup that gave the Bucks the lead with 3.9 seconds left.
That was supposed to be the formula for Bucks wins this season — and last season, if we’re being honest. Antetokounmpo making these game-saving, do-it-all plays and Lillard using his veteran know-how and big-game experience to push the Bucks over the top when it counts.
It hasn’t been the case this year, at least not yet. Lillard missed time with a concussion and Monday was his return, while Khris Middleton is still recovering from double ankle surgery. The Bucks can only wish for the type of issues that led to them firing Adrian Griffin after a 30-13 mark, because at least the firing was tied to a lot of the processes and not necessarily a gaudy record.
They haven’t gotten old overnight, but the margins get slimmer and slimmer when you look around. Brook Lopez, who seems to have had four different careers at this point, is 36. Lillard is 34, Taurean Prince is 30, Antetokounmpo will be 30 in a couple weeks and Bobby Portis will be 30 before the All-Star break. Middleton, whom the Bucks are truly counting on here, is 33 with a bunch of surgical procedures on his jacket.
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Youth is being served thus far. Orlando, Cleveland and even Detroit are in the top six, in large part due to having the horses that can make Milwaukee uncomfortable. Lillard is being hunted in the pick-and-roll on defense, and it’s not like age is catching him on the other end. He’s performing better than last season, when he couldn’t get into great shape because of his pending trade out of Portland — and he’s always struggled defensively, particularly lately due to his size and age.
The Bucks don’t have the athletes to keep up, and counting on Antetokounmpo to clean up all the messes defensively will only leave him weary of mind and body before too long. Losing eight of nine after a season-opening win against Philadelphia was something he hadn’t experienced since his third season, when the Bucks had a 3-10 stretch to close out the 2015-16 season. That was a year the Bucks thought their future was in the hands of Jabari Parker, not Antetokounmpo.
Try telling Doc Rivers he would receive some necessary get-back Monday against Houston after a horrendous miss in Charlotte when Antetokounmpo was called for a foul on LaMelo Ball in the waning seconds of a loss, sending Ball to the line for decisive free throws when it was clear Ball tripped over his own feet — you’d probably have to duck because a shoe or flying object would be headed in your direction if you dared show Rivers a replay of Antetokounmpo’s foot being out of bounds following his block on Sengun.
It’s because despite the overwhelming narrative that 82 games doesn’t mean anything, every game is precious for the Bucks, and losing more ground feels like death by a thousand cuts.
But that’s far better than the mess in Philadelphia, the franchise that authored, authorized and published the book titled, “The regular season means nada, just ask us.”
Perhaps that was what Nick Nurse was discussing in the locker room with his players an hour after Monday’s loss to the Miami Heat, when usually coaches talk to the media 10 minutes after the buzzer.
Instead, the night droned on before the doors to the locker room were opened because of a team meeting — surely a sign trouble is behind those walls. A 19-point, second-quarter lead turned into a 17-point loss in Miami, dropping Philadelphia’s record to a conference-worst 2-11 — and that was with Joel Embiid and Paul George in uniform against a Heat team that’s far from vintage.
Their injuries this season mean the struggles aren’t unexpected, but New York and Orlando are also dealing with kinks for various reasons — the Knicks haven’t figured out how to work around Karl-Anthony Towns’ defensive weak spots, and the Magic have had to deal with Paolo Banchero’s unexpected injury, but they’re adjusting while staying above water, winning enough to prevent panic.
That’s not the case in Philadelphia.
“I mean, we can only ever find out until we play another game,” Nurse said of whether the team meeting would have an impact. “We can only ever find out till we get to practice and see what the level of focus and energy is like, and then when we get to a next game. But, yeah, I think they were very attentive and very communicative.”
Jared McCain is a revelation, looking every bit like a draft steal and rookie of the year candidate, but that’s the only good news so far. Tyrese Maxey, who was leading the league in minutes per game (39.7) before, predictably, injuring his right hamstring two weeks ago — was carrying the load with Embiid sidelined since training camp and George suffering a hyperextended knee in the preseason.
Their offense has been horrid, and they can’t generate easy shots, extra possessions or get out on the break. Their field goal percentage is last, last in efficiency, second to last from the 3-point line, second to last in rebounding and even though their defense has been surprisingly decent (17th), the offense has been too anemic to sustain competitiveness.
George is shooting 40 percent in seven games and Maxey was overtaxed, taking 24 shots at just 41 percent.
Embiid is such a big piece to everything Philadelphia does, it’s difficult to completely write them off, especially considering the 76ers are just four games out of the sixth spot. But it seems hard for a franchise to change course midstream when their stated goal from training camp was to slow-walk this entire process, in order to have Embiid healthy enough to be ready for a long playoff run.
At this point, the process they’re utilizing has them gearing up for a run at Cooper Flagg in the lottery. Realistically, though, we won’t have the full picture until Embiid begins playing regularly — he previously stated he wouldn’t play both ends of back-to-back games — and Maxey comes back.
It seems early enough to come back and make good, but it seems like timing is running out quick for both franchises — and neither could’ve expected this two months ago.
