<p>MILWAUKEE &mdash; All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have been ruled out for Philadelphia’s game at the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.</p>
<p>After initially sending out a starting lineup that included Embiid, the 76ers announced that their star center would miss the game. Embiid had been listed as questionable with a sore right shoulder. </p>
<p>This will be the fourth straight game Simmons has missed due to an unspecified illness. </p>
<p>Philadelphia (39-20) has lost three straight games to drop below the Brooklyn Nets (40-20) in the <a href="https://www.nba.com/standings">Eastern Conference standings.</a></p>
<p>Milwaukee is third in the East, three games behind Brooklyn and 2½ behind Philadelphia.</p>
<p>The Bucks are looking to sweep the regular-season series with the 76ers, who haven’t been at full strength for any of these matchups.</p>
<p>
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-houston-milwaukee-bucks-torrey-craig-jrue-holiday-33082e6b0db7b7a865ead9064a78e5eb">Milwaukee won 109-105 in overtime</a> at Philadelphia on March 17 when the 76ers were missing Embiid due to a bruised left knee. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-bobby-portis-milwaukee-bucks-khris-middleton-philadelphia-76ers-8d86e9289484006cdc99ed59a89f02ae#:~:text=MILWAUKEE%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20Giannis%20Antetokounmpo,the%20Eastern%20Conference’s%20top%20teams.">The Bucks won again 124-117 </a> at Milwaukee on Thursday with Simmons out.</p>
<p>Embiid scored 24 points in Thursday’s game.</p>
<hr />
<p>More AP NBA: <a href="https://apnews.com/NBA">https://apnews.com/NBA</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Sports">https://twitter.com/AP_Sports</a></p>