By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia 76ers (17-27) held off the Milwaukee Bucks (20-24) tonight on the road, 114-109, and are within 4.5 games of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers were again without the services of Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor, but managed to keep their composure, holding off a pesky Bucks team down the stretch. They found themselves down 109-106 within a minute seconds to go, but the Sixers, led by Nerlens Noel, scored the last eight points of the game to earn their 10th win in their last 13 games.
As a whole, the Sixers were efficient once again at the line, hitting 22 of their 25 from the stripe. They out-rebounded the Bucks 43-37, had assists on 32 of their 40 made field goals and scored 26 points off of 19 Bucks turnovers despite coughing up the rock 24 times themselves. Philadelphia shot an impressive 53.3 percent from the floor and hit 12 of their 26 shots from beyond the arc.
In his second start of the season, Nerlens Noel showed why he should remain a part of the Sixers' future with his defensive play and toughness in the final quarter. Noel finished with a double double, 16 points and 13 rebounds, and hit two clutch free throws late and a decisive jumper with less than 10 seconds to play to spark his team to a win.
Gerald Henderson led the Sixers with 20 points, a season-high, shoting 7-for-11 off the bench. Henderson hit a baseline jumper to put the Sixers back up by two in the fourth. Meanwhile, Ersan Ilyasova and Dario Saric provided the team with strong play once again at power forward, scoring 17 points a piece and combining to grab 12 rebounds. TJ McConnell dished out 13 assists, Sergio Rodriguez had seven. As a whole, the Sixers were efficient once again at the line, hitting 22 of their 25 from the stripe.
After allowing 39 points in the first quarter, Philadelphia turned things around in the second and went on an impressive 29-4 run en route to outscoring the Bucks by 20 (39-19) in the quarter to head into the half up by 14, 72-58. Milwaukee chipped away in the third though, cutting the Sixers lead to 88-82 with 12 minutes to play in the game. The Bucks kept the pedal on the medal, cutting the lead to two with 8:19 to go before taking a 97-96 lead within six minutes left in the game. The Sixers starters came back into the game with 4:25 to play, down 99-98, and Gerald Henderson and Nerlens Noel scored the teams' next five points to go ahead 104-102 with 2:56 remaining.
The Sixers fell behind 109-106 and got sloppy with the ball, but they caught a break when Jabari Parker fouled Robert Covington in transition, sending him to the line, where he hit two, pulling the Sixers to within one. Nerlens Noel hit two free throws to put the Sixers ahead and then the Bucks turned it over following a timeout. Philadelphia was scrambling on the ensuing possession, but TJ McConnell found a wide open Noel, who hit a mid-range jumper that helped seal the win.
Nerlens with the clutch shot! #SixersTalk pic.twitter.com/eWQByepYIf
— CSN Philly (@CSNPhilly) January 26, 2017
After winning nine straight against the Sixers, the Bucks have now lost two in a row to them. Greg Monroe came off the bench to score 28 for Milwaukee while Jabari Parker contributed 20.
Up Next:
Joel Embiid is set to return on Friday night, when the Sixers host the Rockets on ESPN at 8:00 p.m.
