Sixers fall to lowly Bucks

There was a benefit to getting blown out by the team with the worst record in the NBA.

The 76ers are a loss closer to the last-place Milwaukee Bucks in acquiring the most balls in the NBA draft lottery.

But that was the lone positive for the Sixers. The woeful Bucks made dispensing of them look easy in a 130-110 romp Monday night at Wells Fargo Center. It was the most points Milwaukee scored since scoring 131 against the Charlotte Bobcats on April 1, 2013.

On Monday, Milwaukee reserve guard O.J. Mayo (25 points and 7 for 9 from behind the arc) turned the game into his personal three-point contest. Backup point guard Ramon Sessions (16 points, five assists) maneuvered his way around the Sixers with ease. And power forward Ersan llsayova (20 points, 7-for-9 shooting) became the latest post player to do want whatever he wanted against the home team.

"That game was very different to me than the Dallas game," Sixers coach Brett Brown said of Friday's 124-112 setback to the Dallas Mavericks. "The Dallas game you could sleep, because you thought the energy was pretty good. I thought the energy tonight was extraordinarily poor."

Brown was correct.

At times, the Sixers (15-42) were sloppy in what was just another ugly setback during what has been a gloomy season. At times, they were a bunch of individuals going one-on-one instead of playing team ball. It all led to their 11th consecutive setback and 21st in 24 games.

And like in their previous six games, they yielded.

This game was all but decided by intermission.

The Sixers surrendered a season-high 73 points and trailed by 29 after the first two quarters. Forty-three of the Bucks points came in the second quarter.

Milwaukee (11-45) snapped a two-game skid in the process. They had lost 21 of their previous 24.

"It's tough getting embarrassed like that," said Sixers guard Tony Wroten, whose squad has yielded an average of 65.4 first-half points in the last seven games. "We definitely could have done better. But we have to keep getting better as a team."

The Sixers had a different look.

Part of it had to with this being their second game since trading Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes, and Lavoy Allen on Thursday. With that, Monday night marked the Sixer debuts for Henry Sims (from Cleveland Cavaliers), Eric Maynor (Washington Wizards), and Byron Mullens (Los Angeles Clippers), who were acquired in the trades. The other difference was the franchise wanting to see Wroten play extended minutes at a different position.

The 6-foot-6, 205-pounder got the start at shooting guard. The second-year player, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Memphis Grizzlies, usually backs up Michael Carter-Williams at point guard.

Wroten had mixed reviews.

The University of Washington product scored eight third-quarter points en route to finishing with 19 points, five assists, and two turnovers. But he was out of control and mistake-prone before intermission.

Wroten routinely blew past defenders only to lose the ball or miss baskets. He missed two dunks in a span of 24 seconds in the second quarter and made just 2 of 6 shots in the first half.

Thaddeus Young finished with a game-high 28 points, seven assists, six steals, and two blocked shots. Twenty-two of the power forward's points came in the second half.

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