This defeat of the Bucks in Chicago, in overtime, is perhaps the best symbol of the start of the season for Giannis Antetokounmpo and his teammates. The latter are experiencing good times but also not so good ones. The proof with several sequences of this part.
To start the game, they went 11-2 in four minutes. Then finished the first period with a 9-3. Finally, in the last act, the Bucks conceded a 14-2. Despite this blow in the stomach, Milwaukee was not far from winning. It took a shot from Alex Caruso to prevent them from leaving Illinois with a success.
“We gave ourselves a chance, several times, to come back and win,” notes Malik Beasley for the Journal Sentinel. “When you expend a lot of energy like that, it’s difficult to maintain it, especially in overtime. We must stick together and learn from this. I think this is one of our first defeats of this type. It happens. I thought we were still going to get through this. »
When you play with fire…
The Bulls, although deprived of Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, dominated the overtime 14-7 and finally punished a Milwaukee team that was far too irregular.
“We didn’t play at our best level and we don’t deserve to win,” assumes Giannis Antetokounmpo. “The Basketball Gods get the job done sometimes and the Bulls played harder than us. They deserved the victory more. We cannot always rely on our talent. We didn't put ourselves in a position to win, we didn't play well or respect basketball. We came back, but we must not find ourselves in this situation. »
The Greek had already said this after the victory against the Blazers, in which he and his gang were led by 26 points before coming out. They are often on a tightrope and, in these cases, we take the risk of falling, on both the good and the bad side. “We played with fire and sometimes we get burned”compares the 2021 Finals MVP.
This is not the first time that the Bucks have shown several faces in the same game. The 48 minutes seemed long for Adrian Griffin's men, who suffered in defense and experienced big drops in tension.
“Even when things seem to be going well, we can’t be regular,” laments Brook Lopez. “We always have small absences, excellent start or not. It's a process and we must continue to find solutions. But we arrive in December and it continues. We need to have a greater sense of urgency. »
