How will the Sixers guard Giannis Antetokounmpo in Christmas game?

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“The Greek Freak,” otherwise known as reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, awaits the Sixers on Christmas.

He’s averaging 31 points on 56.6 percent shooting, 12.9 rebounds and 5.6 assists. And, in three matchups vs. the Sixers last season, he totaled 129 points on 55.6 percent shooting.

How will the Sixers defend him? Here are six possibilities:  

Al Horford

Horford earned a reputation as one of the few players who could hang with Antetokounmpo. 

As the primary defender on Antetokounmpo, Horford limited him to 14 of 29 shooting from the floor last season. He then held him to 4 for 13 in Game 1 of the playoff series between Milwaukee and Boston before Antetokounmpo and the Bucks found their game, winning the next four.

Even if no player is physically equipped to stop Antetokounmpo, Horford at least has an advanced understanding of his strengths and weaknesses.

Joel Embiid

Brett Brown began thinking about how to use Embiid in “five-out” environments last year in training camp. 

One solution Brown found was using Embiid as the defender on players like Pascal Siakam and Antetokounmpo, instead of on a nominal center like Brook Lopez. Antetokounmpo shot 13 of 27 when guarded by Embiid in the final two Sixers-Bucks games last year, and Milwaukee’s surrounding shooters were collectively below par. 

There are several potential downsides of such an approach, including concerns that Embiid would expend excessive energy on defense or get in foul trouble. 

Ben Simmons

Simmons is averaging over two steals per game, has often guarded the opponent’s top threat — at least late in games — and is a very strong contender for an All-Defensive Team.

He’d seem to match up well against Antetokounmpo, right?

Perhaps, although Antetokounmpo made an interesting comment after scoring a career-high 52 points against the Sixers on March 17, the one game the Sixers won over Milwaukee in 2018-19. 

"It's easy," he said, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “I would rather Ben guard me than Joel. It's simple. If Joel's been guarding me all night and he's been making everything so tough on you, when someone switches on you — Jimmy [Butler] or Ben or [Mike] Scott or [Boban] Marjanovic — it's way easier."

Let him shoot 

A popular strategy against Antetokounmpo has been to play well off him and encourage him to fire three-pointers.

He’s recently been making opponents pay, however, and is hitting 44.4 percent of his threes (on 5.4 attempts per game) in December. 

Double him

While the Sixers might trust Embiid, Horford or Simmons to assume most of the responsibility vs. Antetokounmpo, they also could send frequent and aggressive help.

The Bucks, who are attempting the third-most threes in the NBA (39.6), are constructed to beat that strategy. Like just about every team across the league, they have some players off to hot starts (George Hill is hitting over 50 percent of his threes, Khris Middleton over 40 percent), and some off to cold starts (Pat Connaughton is at 31.3 percent, Lopez at 30.6). 

The Sixers could game plan to deny Antetokounmpo as much as possible and put things in the hands of those shooters.

Get creative 

If one of the above approaches doesn’t work well early, Brown could turn to something unconventional. 

He also could look to surprise the Bucks from the jump with a zone defense, half-court trapping, full-court pressure or some sort of audacious hybrid. 

Brown said Wednesday he might look to incorporate more defensive pressure on occasion.

“Maybe,” he said. “I think we’ve done little bits of that in the past. Is it something that we’re going to be? I don’t know. My mind is always driven toward what’s it going to look like in the playoffs? Is that a style of play that you really ever see? And the answer is no, you don’t. You see it in little dribs and drabs. I do feel like we have it in us to maybe extend our defense a little bit. I wouldn’t say that’s who we are.” 

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