Four victories for twelve defeats. This is the Bucks' regular season record since the end of March. Giannis Antetokounmpo's teammates missed the end of last season, before being knocked out in the first round by the Pacers, and they start the next one at the same pace with a victory in five matches. Last night, in Memphis, Milwaukee suffered its 4th defeat in a row. This is the 2nd series of its kind under Doc Rivers.
“Losing is frustrating but we are doing the right thing” yet assures Giannisthe only one to perform at his true level, even if his 3 out of 8 on free throws is a blemish. “For example, Wednesday night we arrived in Memphis and we all got together and watched videos. It wasn't just the eight or nine of us playing. We watched videos, we talked about what we could do better, what we didn't do as well. Thursday, in training, we talked about it again, we talked about our offense, we talked about our defense. Everyone is doing the right thing. I see it in everyone's eyes. They are willing to do what it takes to win games and sometimes it doesn't go as planned. »
Giannis does not give up
While on Saturday evening, it is the Cavaliers, undefeated, who arrive in Milwaukee, Antetokounmpo promises that he will not give up. “It’s a part of the season that’s not going our way. But losing two, three, four, five, six matches in a row, or even losing just one, is always frustrating. But, again, as my father used to say “why complain if you don't give up”. So I’m not going to give up.”
For Doc Rivers, his players show indiscipline, and he uses the defensive withdrawal as an example. His players were constantly behind against the Memphis rockets. “It’s a question of discipline. That's all! »blurted out the Bucks coach. “It’s up to us to demand it more, to report it more often, and at some point there have to be consequences.” Today, they have run behind our backs too often, again and again. Interiors running behind us for lobbed passes, that's not possible! It's not like we don't work on this every day. But we don't work on it enough, because if we did, they wouldn't do it. Once again, I always come back to myself. There's something they're not hearing, and I need to do better. »
“It’s all my fault until we find the right solution”
For Rivers, the defense on the transition game was “horrible.” “And it’s my fault.” he specifies. “It’s all my fault until we find the right solution.” We need to fix this problem. We played with the right mindset. We didn't make any shots and there are nights like that, but on those nights, you have to find a way to make 'saves'. I don't know how many times they accelerated, and beat us… They did it probably eight to ten times on the few shots we made. »
Another problem quickly mentioned by Rivers: clumsiness at 3-points. Last night, the Bucks scored 8 out of 38 from afar. That's worse than their 8 of 31 in Brooklyn, or their 10 of 33 in Boston. Between them, Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. have an incredible 0 out of 13 from 3-point range!
“Most of our players are also good shooters, it’s just that the shots didn’t go in” concludes Brook Lopez. “It's like that sometimes… Obviously we always have to be present defensively and we have to take care of defense in transition. This is something we will continue to repeat all year. But I think we played well on offense most of the night. »
