After a brutal loss to the 13th-seeded Grizzlies last night, Giannis Antetokounmpo sent a message directly to his team in the face of ongoing adversity. Giannis, who finished the game with 35 points, challenged his teammates to increase the intensity and stop coming up with excuses to explain their struggles.
“We have to want it, man,” Antetokounmpo said. “Like enough with the talking. Enough with the, ‘our s— don’t-stink’ mentality. Do we really want it? Are we putting in the work? Are we going to put in the effort? That is the most important thing. Guys are tired, that’s an excuse. New coach, excuse. New system, excuse. New defense, excuse. All of it, it’s excuse. At the end of the day, you’re going to go out there and try to play basketball, try to compete and they competed harder than us today.”
Even amid a storm of controversy this season, the Bucks are still 3rd in the East with a 35-21 record overall. They are just 2.5 games out from the 2nd seed and have one of the best home records in the league at 23-7. Despite the winning, however, the Bucks have made their flaws all too known this season and a particularly brutal stretch of play under new coach Doc Rivers has raised the concern level in a major way.
With two superstars, an experienced supporting cast, and a championship-level coach in the locker room, the Bucks have no more excuses for a lack of success. Suppose they fail to get it done, after all the changes they’ve made, it will count as the biggest failure in the Giannis era to date. Clearly, the 2x MVP is doing whatever he can to avoid that outcome and it remains to be seen if the Bucks can find a permanent solution.
Can The Bucks Turn Their Season Around?
From firing their coach to trading for Patrick Beverley in the middle of the season, it’s been a wild few months in Milwaukee and it’s a miracle they are so high in the standings. But with the season coming to a close pretty soon, the Bucks don’t have a lot of time to address their issues, and urgency is needed if they want to improve.
Arguably their biggest problem right now is on the defensive end, which was always their bread and butter under Mike Budenholzer. Since trading for Lillard, the Bucks have (predictably) taken a massive step back in this area and are allowing opponents to score 113.3 points per game (17th in the NBA). The addition of Patrick Beverley could help them improve here, but he’s had a minimal impact so far in the few games he’s played.
Damian Lillard’s offensive struggles are another massive issue for the Bucks. They gave up a lot for him this summer and he was brought in to help space the floor with his expert marksmanship. Strangely, Lillard is shooting just 42% this season and is showing no signs of turning it around.
Needless to say, it’s an uphill climb for the new-look Bucks and this is hardly how they expected to start the new Giannis/Damian Lillard era. With frustration mounting, only time will tell how much this team can endure but Giannis is already losing his patience and that’s just not a good sign for a team that just fired its head coach.
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