In Doc Rivers’ return to Philadelphia on Sunday, the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the 76ers 119-98 behind 30 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo and 24 from Damian Lillard.

Following the previous season, Philadelphia dismissed Rivers. From 2020 to 2023, he was the 76ers’ coach. He never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs, and Sunday was his 12th game in Milwaukee since he took over.

About his comeback, Rivers said, “It was awesome.” “I’m not talking about basketball here; I’m talking about life. I had three great years here. My time here was enjoyable. I now have lifelong buddies. And the crowd were terrific. There were a few amusing remarks. I was informed by a man that Larry David was trying to find me a golf partner. I found it to be really humorous.

During introductions, the sellout crowd booed Rivers, but his team answered with a scorching first quarter that swiftly silenced the fans.

The Bucks led by 14 points after Lillard scored the first seven points and closed the quarter with 11 points.

Lillard said, “I thought we were consistent.” “We made the extra pass to locate the open man, we went into the paint, and we had good looks. It need a lot of diversity and quality shots to play effective offense. I assumed that was what we had done.

In addition to finishing with 12 rebounds and nine assists, Antetokounmpo gave Milwaukee its biggest lead of the half with a driving layup and a full-court pass to Brook Lopez for a slam just as the buzzer went off. In the second half, Philadelphia never came any closer than 12 points.

Compared to the whole 76ers roster, Antetokounmpo made 12 more trips to the free throw line than they did.

Rivers attributed it to the defense on his squad.

“We had been putting such an emphasis on defense,” Rivers said. “We’ve played well the last few games. If you can get stops and get Giannis into transition, having him on your team makes things difficult for everyone.”

Following the All-Star break, Milwaukee won their second consecutive game after losing 3-7 in Rivers’ first ten games as coach. Malik Beasley contributed 20 points, while Bobby Portis Jr. had 17.

Beasley said, “It all boils down to communicating.” One of the first occasions we were all interacting was today. We used to be confused about whether to stick with our own man or swap. We performed well on that today.”

For the 76ers, who have lost eight of their last 12 games since losing reigning MVP Joel Embiid to a left knee ιnjury in January, Tyrese Maxey scored 24 points and De’Anthony Melton added 16.

Nick Nurse, the coach of Philadelphia, said, “We have a big man shortage and a lot of guards.” “We’re attempting to resolve some issues. However, we still need to play ‘drive and kιck’ basketball with this bunch of me𝚗 a little bit better. We must arrange ourselves. On the attacking side, we need to be more coordinated.”