Less than a month ago, James Young was playing for the Wisconsin Herd in the NBA's G League, unaffiliated with any NBA franchise. Now with the Sixers, he's on a two-way contract, shuttling from the Delaware 87ers to Philadelphia, as needed.

Monday, he made the Sixers' first three-pointer of the night against the Milwaukee Bucks in a game with possible playoff implications.

There was 3:15 left in the first quarter.

The Sixers missed their first 18 three-point attempts before Young knocked one down. The team's second made three-pointer didn't come until Robert Covington made one with 7:40 left in the game.

On a night without Joel Embiid, where the Sixers went cold like a Bomb Cyclone in the middle of winter, this was a game that was surprisingly close for most of the first three quarters. In the end, the Sixers just didn't have enough juice and dropped their second game in a row, losing 107-95 to the Bucks.

"We tried to find somebody to make the three, and we just couldn't find it," Sixers coach Brett Brown told reporters after the game. "Without Joel, we knew if we were going to win, we needed a three-point successful night...we had hoped the three-point line would generate that without our best scorer, we just weren't able to get that done."

Despite the loss, the Sixers (24-23) remain in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, two games behind the Bucks, who improved to 26-22.

Without Embiid -- who sat out to rest on the second night of back-to-back road games -- the Sixers struggled to get anything going from the perimeter against the Bucks, putting together arguably the worst shooting performance in franchise history.

Monday, the Sixers shot 2 of 26. Per Basketball Reference, the Sixers are just the third team in NBA history to shoot worse than eight percent from three while attempting at least 25 three-pointers.

Remarkably, in the first half it didn't prevent the Sixers from keeping things close. Despite Embiid's absence and foul trouble from Ben Simmons, the Sixers went into halftime down 55-53.

Ultimately, the Sixers never managed to heat up and the Bucks pulled away.

Young made one of two three-point attempts. The rest of it was ugly.

Dario Saric: 0 for 8
Covington: 1 for 8
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot: 0 for 4
Richaun Holmes: 0 for 2
Justin Anderson: 0 for 1

"Some of it I give Milwaukee credit, some of it was just missing some open looks," Brown said. "Those nights happen. You feel the pain of those nights in a much greater way when you don't have your best scorer."

Otherwise, the Sixers committed 14 turnovers (with 22 assists) and Simmons didn't make quite the same impact he often does without Embiid, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and two turnovers in 29 minutes. Though, they did shoot an impressive 21 of 23 on free throws.

The Sixers next game is Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. against the Nets in Brooklyn. Embiid is expected to return.

Player of the game: Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Greek Freak was disruptive on defense and, for much of the night, unstoppable on offense. It was a ho-hum night for Antetokounmpo: 31 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and one block.

Bucks guard Khris Middleton scored 19 points.

Antetokounmpo didn't play the last time these two teams faced off on Jan. 20, and the Sixers were similarly dominant.

Dario Saric was OK, getting a team-high 19 points (on of 7 of 18 shooting), nine rebounds and two assists.

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With Embiid out, the Sixers turned to Amir Johnson in the starting line-up and Richaun Holmes off the bench.

How'd they do?

About as expected. Johnson was solid on defense, grabbed five rebounds and blocked one shot.

Holmes -- who hadn't received meaningful playing time in eight games -- was flashy on offense, scoring 13 points on five dunks and one made free throw.

On the other end, neither contributed much. But the Sixers already know who Holmes and Johnson are, and that's not Embiid.

I covered how much of a drop-off there is when Embiid plays and when he doesn't, but that's obvious when the player in question is an All-Star and likely All-NBA selection.

With a light bench -- still missing the team's best shooter in JJ Redick -- it's difficult to truly judge the Sixers in a game with Embiid out of the lineup. Just as it was for the Bucks when Antetokounmpo didn't play earlier this month.

The Sixers dropped to 2-8 without Embiid in the line-up.

More Markelle

Another day, another video of Markelle Fultz shooting the basketball.

#Sixers guard Markelle Fultz in a shooting drill. pic.twitter.com/919D3JcKYE
-- Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) January 29, 2018

Rim shots

Jerryd Bayless (wrist) missed his sixth straight game. As expected, JJ Redick (leg), Markelle Fultz (shoulder/shooting issues) and Furkan Korkmaz (foot) remained out.
Jabari Parker medically cleared to play in Milwaukee's game on Friday against the Knicks. Parker has yet to play this season due to a knee injury suffered last season.
Ben Simmons had his 28th game this season of at least 10 points, five rebounds and five assists. The only other players with more such games: LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and DeMarcus Cousins.

Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zsr1090@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZackBlatt. Find NJ.com on Facebook.