“ This is probably the 3rd time this has happened against the Nets… » The journalist does not have time to finish his question as Doc Rivers fixes it : “ Fourth time. All four matches were basically the same. » His team has just finished this series of clashes against the New Yorkers in the regular season, with little chance that the two teams will meet in the final stages.
His Bucks were once again unable to fend off these Nets who are not intended to get involved in the race for the playoffs. The Nets had already beaten them at the end of October, at the heart of the dark start to the season for Wisconsin players. Then a second time, a week ago, in the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
That night, all the team executives were present. Only in front, “ their defensive intensity, their pressure on the ball… We literally didn't launch a lot of attacks tonight. We played a lot in isolation, the ball did not circulate as is usually the case. And then in the fourth quarter, we finally did it “, summarizes Doc Riversin reference to the comeback attempt, after being 24 points behind, ultimately aborted.
“ If we try to beat them with dribbling throughout the match, the lines will tighten. If we don't run, we won't win. We didn't play correctly. And then the last group came in and did it. You saw the difference », Continues the technician whose team only generated 21 assists in this match.
A concern for approach
Doc Rivers considers that his team had performed better during the previous clash, without the two All-Stars. “ The match here without Giannis and Dame, it was the only match where we had a big gap before letting it go in the fourth. But in this match, the ball was moving and we had to face a young, athletic and physical team. », he analyzes.
But then how can we explain this setback, at home and in full? “ For some reason, we didn't approach the match against them correctly. », Regrets the coach who suffered a third defeat in the last four outings.
“ It's one of those games where I'm going to say something seven times coming out of the timeouts, we didn't follow the system. It's funny, there was so much hope with the first action we drew. It was a nice system for an open shot from Dame. He didn't put it on, but I told myself it was going to be a high-level evening in terms of execution. “, continues Doc Rivers, before finishing: “ It's going to be okay, we'll be ready for all this. We have to be ready to play collectively, we weren't this evening. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | 26 | 35.1 | 60.6 | 22.2 | 60.3 | 2.0 | 9.6 | 11.7 | 6.0 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 32.4 |
| Damian Lillard | 25 | 36.5 | 43.4 | 36.4 | 91.9 | 0.6 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 7.6 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 25.1 |
| Bobby Portis | 31 | 25.5 | 47.1 | 38.1 | 80.0 | 1.8 | 6.2 | 8.1 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 14.1 |
| Khris Middleton | 11 | 23.6 | 45.8 | 43.2 | 85.2 | 0.4 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 5.2 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 13.6 |
| Brook Lopez | 32 | 32.1 | 49.3 | 36.9 | 74.4 | 1.2 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 12.2 |
| Gary Trent, Jr. | 30 | 24.9 | 41.8 | 40.5 | 90.0 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 9.6 |
| Aj Green | 30 | 21.6 | 45.1 | 44.2 | 88.9 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 7.7 |
| Taurean Prince | 32 | 25.7 | 45.1 | 45.4 | 72.2 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 7.5 |
| Pat Connaughton | 17 | 16.4 | 37.8 | 29.8 | 75.0 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 4.6 |
| Ryan Rollins | 18 | 11.5 | 46.2 | 43.3 | 77.8 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 4.4 |
| Andre Jackson, Jr. | 31 | 18.1 | 40.2 | 35.3 | 53.8 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 3.6 |
| Delon Wright | 22 | 16.6 | 30.0 | 26.2 | 57.1 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.8 |
| Tyler Smith | 11 | 3.5 | 64.3 | 37.5 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 2.0 |
| Marjon Beauchamp | 15 | 4.0 | 40.9 | 27.3 | 83.3 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 |
| Aj Johnson | 5 | 2.1 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| Liam Robbins | 7 | 4.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 25.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Chris Livingston | 3 | 2.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Stanley Umude | 8 | 3.3 | 20.0 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
