Bucks Beat 76ers, Heat Beats Celtics as Top Four Teams in the NBA East Square Off

It was crowded at the top of the NBA Eastern Conference going into the games of March 29th. The Miami Heat led the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Boston Celtics by one game, and the four teams would pair up for games on the 29th and 30th.

Milwaukee has been almost unstoppable when its big three of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday play together, but it’s been harder to win when one or more is out. For example, the Bucks lost at Memphis on March 26th 127-102 even though Ja Morant was out for the Grizzlies. Holiday was out for the Bucks, and their record in games he’s missed is just 5-10. All three of the Big Three were there for this one. Giannis scored 40 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and had three blocked shots to lead the Bucks to a come from behind 118-111 victory at Philadelphia. That last block of an attempted lay up by Joel Embiid was huge, occurring with just a couple seconds left to seal the win. Khris Middleton scored 22, with nine rebounds and seven assists, while Holiday scored 18 and added 10 assists. Brook Lopez, playing in just his eighth game of the season after returning from an injury, scored 17 points. He’s quickly rounding back to form, which will be huge for Milwaukee going into the playoffs. James Harden led the 76ers with 32 points while Embiid scored 19 with 14 rebounds.

In Boston, the Miami Heat held the Celtics to just 15 points in the fourth quarter on the way to a 106-98 victory on March 30th. Four Heat starters scored in double figures, as did Tyler Herro off the bench. Jaylen Brown led Boston with 28 points and Jayson Tatum added 23.

So at the end of the day on March 30th, the Heat still had the best record in the Eastern Conference at 49-28, followed by Milwaukee at 47-28 (one game behind), Philadelphia (46-29, two games back), and Boston (47-30, two games back).