Nick Nurse on beating the Bucks after losing the glass 62-40: ‘It’s almost hard to believe’

Nick Nurse could not quite explain the math, and he said so. The Philadelphia 76ers were beaten 62-40 on the boards by the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, October 24, and still won 127-116 at Xfinity Mobile Arena to stay unbeaten without LeBron James. “It’s almost hard to believe,” the coach said afterward.

The answer sits in the possession count. Philadelphia forced 23 Milwaukee turnovers, came up with 15 steals and gave the ball away only 11 times itself. That swing let the 76ers take 98 shots to Milwaukee’s 90, even though the Bucks grabbed 17 offensive rebounds. NBC Sports Philadelphia noted it was only the 26th double-digit win since 1975-76 by a team outrebounded by at least 22, and the first in franchise history.

Game Center: Bucks at 76ers, box score and play-by-play

Where the rotation made up the difference

Nurse leaned on a tight group. Five players logged at least 28 minutes, and the starting five of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, VJ Edgecombe and Dean Wade carried the night. Embiid took on the playmaking James usually handles and finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Brown had 27 and three steals, Maxey 26.

The rebounding help came from the backcourt. Edgecombe pulled down 12 boards to go with 17 points and five made threes, without a turnover in nearly 30 minutes, and Nurse made a point of saying the team needs that from him. Off the bench, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made 4 of 6 threes, added three steals and finished plus-24, tied with Brown for the best mark on the team. Nurse credited his habit of sprinting the floor for opening up the transition game. Philadelphia hit 19 of 44 threes against Milwaukee’s 11 of 34.

The bench was thinner elsewhere. Anfernee Simons went 1 of 7 in 20 minutes, and Jabari Walker, who played 12 minutes, tweaked a knee, according to Nurse.

Not thrilled at 3-0

Nurse was careful not to oversell it. He told reporters the group was not completely thrilled, that Milwaukee played fast and sent everyone to the glass, and that he counted around a dozen possessions where the offense fell short of his standard. He framed the bigger picture as a team still learning its sets. Two nights earlier the 76ers looked disorganized in the first half against Cleveland, fell behind by 29 and came back to win; against the Bucks the offense held its shape for most of the game.

The game turned late in the third quarter. Milwaukee tied it 82-82 with 4:25 left in the period, and Philadelphia answered with a 15-5 run to take a 97-87 lead into the fourth. When the Bucks crept back, Caldwell-Pope’s three with 1:12 left pushed the margin back to nine.

What comes next

There is no rest. The 76ers host the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, October 25, at 7:30 p.m. ET, the second night of a back-to-back. Detroit will be without Jalen Duren, and the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Embiid is not expected to play and that James will not play both halves of back-to-backs, so Nurse’s rotation is likely to look different again.

Game Center: Pistons at 76ers