The Philadelphia 76ers hosted the Eastern Conference’s best team in that of the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night.
For a late-season game between two of the best squads in the NBA, this was rather meaningless. Milwaukee was a win away from wrapping up the top overall seed. Meanwhile, Philadelphia had already clinched the third spot.
Even then, the game itself inside the Wells Fargo Center was about as electric as it gets. Bryce Harper rang the opening bell. Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe and Sixers star Joel Embiid got into within the first few minutes of the game. Bledsoe himself was tossed.
As the game continued, it became rather clear that this is the playoff series we need back east after Milwaukee clinched homecourt with a 128-122 win.
Embiid vs Giannis: The two were just going at one another.
Bad blood: That’s not going to end come playoff time.
The matchups: It’s not just about Embiid vs Antetokounmpo.
Everyone wants to see the Celtics and Sixers go at it. That would be an awesome rivalry series. However, this set would represent new blood going up against new blood in a reformatted Eastern Conference.
Embiid and Antetokounmpo will be going at it for years moving forward. Why not start this rivalry now? If what we saw Thursday night is any indication, we’d be all for it.