Sixers Bell Ringer: A few bright spots in shorthanded, season-opening loss to Bucks

The Philadelphia 76ers opened their regular season with… well, what very much looked like the first game of a new season as the shorthanded Sixers fell 124-109 to the Milwaukee Bucks

The Sixers were without Joel Embiid (injury management) and Paul George (left knee bone bruise) after both were ruled out for the team’s season opener. Nevertheless, the show must go on, as it always does.

Despite missing two star-caliber players, Philadelphia looked good out of the gate. Strong offensive rebounding helped the Sixers to a one-point lead after the first frame. The dam started to break in the second, however, with the Bucks starting to pour on the points and the Sixers struggling to get any of their shots to fall. Milwaukee held an 11-point lead at halftime, and it only got uglier in the third as the Bucks continued to shoot the lights out, especially from long range, to take a 20-plus-point lead.

The Sixers made a push in the fourth to cut the deficit but just could never get a real run going to stage any real threat of a comeback.

Sixers shot terribly in this one, just 41.8% field goals (41-for-98) and 25.8% from three-point range (8-for-31). The Bucks, by comparison, hit 53.8% FGs (43-for-80) and 43.2% 3PTs (16-for-37). Hard to win any game with that disparity if you’re Philadelphia, no matter who is on the court.

For a full recap of the game, check out ours here!

The Sixers (again without Embiid, who has already been ruled out) will hit the road for the first time this season Friday night when they head to Canada to take on the Toronto Raptors.

Until then, let’s get to our first Bell Ringer of the 2024-25 season! No one really killed it tonight, honestly. Here’s a few guys who looked, let’s say, the most promising.

Tyrese Maxey: 25 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Kicked off the season with the Sixers’ first points of the campaign: a step-back triple. It’s a move that Maxey seems to have been working on since James Harden was his teammate, and he’s only getting better at it. Maxey’s improved availability to control his speed and manuever his momentum baits defenders into the arc before he stutter-steps his way out for a comfortable three-point opportunity. It’s just one of the ways his improved strength and stability with his feet and body have accelerated his game season over season as a scorer.

Maxey’s shooting line left a lot to be desired, however, shooting just 32.3% field goals (10-for-31) and 22.2% from three-point range (2-for-9). That being said, he is finding a lot of good shooting opportunities and not forcing as much as he did earlier in his career, even while trying to fill the void left by the Sixers’ two missing stars. Nick Nurse wants Maxey to shoot, and that’s what he did. Just have to hope that as the season continues those shots start falling a bit more.

(And hopefully a fair whistle to send him to the line more? Please.)

Maxey finished Wednesday’s contest leading the Sixers with 25 points. He also had six rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block.

Andre Drummond: 10 points, 13 rebounds (5 offensive)

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

A nice double-double to start off the season for Drummond starting in place of Embiid!

It is night and day for the Sixers to have someone like Drummond fighting on the glass when Embiid isn’t on the floor. The whole reason the Sixers were in this game to begin with throughout the first quarter was because of good rebounding, especially on the offensive end. After one frame, Drummond already had seven boards. By midway through the second period, he was at 10 rebounds in just 12 minutes on the floor. He finished with 13, with five coming on the offensive end.

His rim protection in this one was fine, honestly—the problem was that it was irrelevant ultimately. With the way the Bucks were sinking threes, what happened inside the paint was an afterthought.

The main problem with Drummond playing starting minutes like tonight is that he doesn’t exactly score like Embiid, especially when he’s trying to do it over a guy like Brook Lopez. Nevertheless, Drummond put up 10 points tonight on 4-for-8 field goal shooting.

Guerschon Yabusele: 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

It’s really hard to not root for Yabusele. He’s been out of the NBA since 2019, playing international ball until he turned heads with his performances for France in the 2024 Paris Olympics. He looked good in preseason—but a lot of those games aren’t exactly full-strength NBA competition. Tonight was a big test for the player once affectionately referred to as “The Dancing Bear”.

I’d say he passed with flying colors. Every time Yabu popped in off the bench, he was making an impact on both ends of the floor. Yabusele scored his first NBA points in five years, just two minutes after stepping into the game. From there, he was off to the races—aggressive on the boards, active on defense, comfortable setting screens and taking advantage of smart opportunities to score or throw an assist. For a guy that hasn’t played in this league in quite a bit, he blended right in just fine with some of the best big guys the association has to offer.

Yabu finished with 10 points (4-for-8 FG), four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

His main issue was fouls. Yabusele ended up fouling out with just over four minutes left in the contest, but that is understandable at this point in the season as he is probably adjusting a bit to defending against NBA players again.

Kelly Oubre Jr.: 21 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

This was a pretty textbook Oubre night. High-energy, good for a nice burst of scoring, with a little bit of inefficient shooting sprinkled in. It’s just who he is. He creates his own opportunities with the ball when the Sixers’ offense goes stagnant, and that’s exactly when they need him the most. He hit a few big buckets in this one as the Sixers were hanging on for dear life and even trying to stage a little bit of a comeback late. Oubre finished just behind Maxey in terms of scoring for the Sixers with 21 points (8-for-18 FG shooting) with two rebounds and an assist.

Speaking of that assist, it’s nice to see Oubre have some good synergy already with guys like Andre Drummond, who he set up perfectly for the alley-oop below.

Kyle Lowry: 13 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Having Lowry on the floor for his 19th season in the NBA is like having a coach on the court with the Sixers. When in control of the ball, Lowry is constantly organizing the offense in real time when the team starts to get sloppy or needs to get things moving, and it pays off. He knows where his teammates need to be and helps them get there before passing them the ball to finish. It’s why he led the Sixers in assists tonight with six. In addition to that veteran playmaking presence, Lowry also knocked down a trio of triples to try to help keep the Sixers in this one. He finished with 13 points on 4-for-7 field goal shooting.

Lowry only seemed to struggle a bit on the defensive end, especially as the Bucks hit a barrage of shots from the perimeter. But all in all, not a horrible showing from the vet.