The Sixers faced the Milwaukee Bucks last night in a battle of the unicorns as Giannis Antetokounmpo hosted Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. All three titans showed up to play, with Antetokounmpo and Simmons both notching triple doubles and Embiid posting his 5th double-double of the season. It was Antetokounmpo and the Bucks that ultimately came away with a 123-108 victory. Here are a few quick notes from the game.
Robert Covington is still streaky
vs Celtics- 8 points, 3/10 FG, -11
vs Bulls- 20 points, 6/14 FG, +24
vs Magic- 12 points, 4/7 FG, -1
vs Pistons- 16 points, 6/11 FG, -1
vs Bucks- 8 points, 3/10 FG, -26
Robert Covington has always been known to be a streaky player who’s offense seems to have its own on and off switch. However, his defense this season has also been inconsistent. At times, he looks like the All Defensive First Team player that he was last season and at other times he seems like he’s daydreaming. The early defensive woes from Covington are not encouraging, especially considering that his defense is the biggest reason that the Sixers signed him to a four year, $62 million dollar extension last season.
Dario Saric’s slow start continues
Saric plays overseas with the Croatian national team every summer after the NBA season ends. While it’s great that he supports his country and wants to help represent them, it normally costs him when he returns for the beginning of the NBA season. Saric always seems to start the season slow. He seems flat footed, his shot never looks like it has enough of an arc, and he struggles with getting his legs under him.
Through 5 games, he’s only averaging 12.2 points while shooting a poor 37.3% from the field and 26.5% from deep. As time goes on, you hope to see Saric form some sort of rhythm for himself like he has in the past.
Embiid continues his journey towards MVP
Joel Embiid continues to flat out dominate his opponents. Through 5 games, Embiid is averaging 29.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.4 blocks on 48% shooting from the field in 35.6 minutes per game. The best part is, he’s doing all of this with only 2 turnovers per game. That’s a huge improvement from the 3.7 turnovers he averaged last season. If Embiid can continue to put up these numbers with good efficiency, there’s no doubt he’ll finish a top 3 candidate in the MVP voting.
Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
