Sixers’ losing streak hits 10 games despite career night from Adem Bona

Adem Bona had a career night, but it wasn't enough to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. The losing streak reaches 10 games.

Here's what I saw.

Likes

- Bona, this space is yours. It started off as an ordinary night for the big man in the Sixers' tour de tank. He lurked by the rim, preparing his hands for dump-off passes. When drivers and ball-handlers put enough pressure on the hoop to draw a Milwaukee defender away from Bona, they left the ball off for him. Bona accrued a few finishes against the Bucks' rotating defense early on, igniting his own hot start.

That confidence bubbled, and soon Bona was faking DHOs out of the corner and attacking the likes of Brook Lopez at the cup. He had a couple of difficult finishes in the first half, navigating coverages inside to get the hoop and maybe even the foul on occasion.

Perhaps there was some adrenaline from the early cooking at play, because Bona was totally game for matching up with Antetokounmpo on defense. You could tell the Bucks star was, at the very least, not ignoring Bona's physicality inside. Eventually, Giannis had had enough and decided to test him, lining Bona up for forceful drives. Bona didn't blink with the human freight train coming his way. One of the best things about Bona - and a measure of his hunger to thrive in this league - is that he never shies away from violence in the air. If he didn't outright block Giannis, he challenged him well enough to force misses, even on dunks. Eventually, his defensive impact was so obvious that Nick Nurse decided to match his minutes with those of Antetokounmpo.

Bona wasn't just making things a little tough for Giannis at the rim. He denied him positioning on the interior. The Bucks obviously made their star a focal point of the offense around the elbows and closer to the basket. To Bona's credit, there were instances in which he denied him the space to pivot and gain leverage toward the basket. Those touches ended in contested midrange jumpers, not exactly Giannis' forte.

Dislikes

- This Bucks team is not gifted with great shooters up and down the roster, so the Sixers' defensive woes were not burned as badly as they could've been. That being said, I'm so tired of this obsession with pinching on the driving lanes with a complete disregard for open corner threes.

Spare thoughts

- The closer we get to the end, the more intrigued I am about the free agencies of Guerschon Yabusele and Quentin Grimes. Fear of the second apron is going to compress the market, just as it did last summer. But there are way fewer high-level free agents scheduled to be available this time around. 

While no one would logically suggest that Yabusele and Grimes are in line for max deals, the compressed nature of spending is such that every tier of free agent is affected. Both Yabusele and Grimes have come down to earth quite a bit since their respective best play of the season. 

So, I am extremely curious how other teams value them. The Sixers trimmed costs at the trade deadline in an effort to ensure that they could keep Yabusele beyond just this season. But that didn't account for Grimes' meteoric rise. Considering that the Sixers have full Bird rights on Grimes, it could really benefit Philadelphia that the number of teams with cap space is going to be small.

The Sixers (23-54) will host the Minnesota Timberwolves (44-32) on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., Eastern time. You can watch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.