Sixers shoot past Bucks 94-82

The Sixers rolled past the Milwaukee Bucks 94-82 to go to 10-3 on the season, 6-0 at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers were led by 24 pionts, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals by Jrue Holiday as well as 21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks from Andre Iguodala.

The Night Shift (tm) struggled on the night, scoring 23 points on 29 shots. The Sixers bench was without Evan Turner, who had his quad contusion tighten up before the game. Rookie center Nikola Vucevic also didn't play, although in his case due to a coaches decision, who said he wanted Tony Battie's experience against Andrew Bogut. Thaddeus Young struggled his day to a 1-8 shooting night from the field, and Louis Williams, while scoring 17 points to go along with 6 assists, 3 three pointers made and only 1 turnover, took 17 shots to get those 17 points.

Luckily, the Sixers were picked up by their starters and an uncharacteristically great three point shooting game. The Sixers, who were middle of the pack in terms of three pointers made entering the game (76, 14th in the league) made 11 three's on 23 attempts. The Sixers are shooting 29-57 from three point land over the last three games.

Joining the three point parade were Jrue Holiday (2-4), Spencer Hawes (2-3), Andre Iguodala (3-5), and Louis Williams (3-5), and also saw Jodie Meeks contribute a three on 6 attempts. The two 3 pointers from Hawes were his first of the season.

Iguodala, a career 32.6% three point shooter, is shooting 42.9% from three this season, which would by far be a career best.

Besides shooting, turnovers was another key to the game. Milwaukee came into the game 5th in the league in turnover differential (in terms of turnover rate), with the Sixers 6th. The Sixers won this battle, committing only 9 turnovers to the Bucks 16. They also did a solid job of keeping the Bucks off the glass, giving up only 9 offensive rebounds in 40 chances for the Bucks.

The Bucks had been 4-2 in games that center Andrew Bogut had played in coming into the game. Bogut had his way down low, scoring 20 points to go along with 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.

As mentioned before the game, Jrue Holiday has had success throughout his career in slowing down Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings, who is by far having his most efficient season of his career. Holiday held Jennings to 29.7% shooting last year, and held him to 3-11 shooting today. Jennings had been shooting 44.3% from the field and 35.7% from three entering the game.

Overall, another solid defensive effort and a great job taking care of the ball, but the Sixers continual struggle to get to the line is a little concerning. The Sixers attempted only 13 free throws today and came into the game 22nd in the league in free throw rate. The Bucks with Bogut are likely a playoff team, but this wasn't the Sixers best game, at least from an offensive standpoint. The Sixers lack of getting to the line and crashing the offensive glass are slowly becoming a trend, and the team really faltered in the 2nd and 4th quarters. Had the Sixers perimeter shooters been cold today, the game could have turned out drastically different. It didn't, and the Sixers, only 13 games into the season, sit 4 games ahead of the Knicks in the Atlantic division.

Player of the game: Andre Iguodala (although Jrue Holiday easily could have won this as well).

Brew Hoop

Bucks vs 76ers boxscore

Next up: Wednesday against the Nuggets