Playoff intensity showed itself from the opening tip at Philadelphia on Thursday as Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 45 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 128-122 comeback victory over the 76ers that clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Khris Middleton scored 22 points for the Bucks, who will enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time in franchise history. They were top seed in the Western Conference three times in their first six years of existence, the last in the 1973-74 season.
Joel Embiid recorded his second career triple-double with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists in his return from a three-game absence caused by a left knee soreness. The mood between two of the top three teams in the East was set early. Less than three minutes into the game, an on-court incident between the Bucks’ Eric Bledsoe and the Sixers’ Joel Embiid ended with Bledsoe’s ejection because of two technical fouls.
