The Milwaukee Bucks returned to winning ways on Friday night, defeating the Charlotte Hornets 120-84. The Bucks are now 34-19 on the season, the third seed in the Eastern Conference despite being 4-6 in their last ten games and 2-5 since Doc Rivers took over as head coach. Indeed, the club has had a rough few weeks, and its internal issues may have begun earlier.
As everyone knows, Milwaukee fired rookie head coach Adrian Griffin just 43 games into the season. Milwaukee’s record at the time was 30-13 (tied for second in the NBA). Griffin was fired amid claims that he had lost control of the locker room and that players, particularly Giannis Antetokounmpo, had no idea what they were expected to perform (particularly on defense).
While the Bucks’ record of 30-13 looked excellent on paper, the reality was that they were struggling. It was extremely rare to see a team dominate a game from start to finish on both sides of the court. Even under recently departed head coach Mike Budenholzer, that was a common occurrence during the regular season.
Instead, Milwaukee frequently played down to its opponents. The San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons stayed around to lose close games to the Bucks, despite the fact that they should have been blasted out. They simply were not playing like a team that was regarded a credible championship contender, which Rivers advised them to fix.
Damian Lillard Says Doc Rivers Told the Milwaukee Bucks They Need to “Act Like” They Want to Win
As mentioned, the Bucks are coming off of a convincing 120-84 victory over the short-handed Hornets. While the Bucks were playing nearly at full strength (Khris Middleton remained out with a sprained ankle), the Hornets were without LaMelo Ball and had traded away a lot of their other regular players at the trade deadline and were waiting for the players they received in return to join the team.
In other words, it was a game that Milwaukee should have won in blowout fashion, but was also the kind of game that the team had made close under Griffin. According to seven-time All-Star Damian Lillard, Rivers had told them team that they needed to start acting like the contenders that they are prior to their dominating win on Friday night:
“Before the game, there was a lot of conversation with our staff. We were watching a video when Doc challenged us. He simply checked us on what we say we want to do vs what we’ve been doing.
“And it was just like, to be a contender and express what we want to do, we had to start acting like it. And I believe that starts with us and has nothing to do with anyone else, so it didn’t matter who we (were) playing tonight; it was crucial for us to go out there and set the tone and begin the process of becoming who we envision ourselves as and want to be.
And I thought tonight was a fantastic beginning.”
Lillard led all scorers with 26 points and eight assists. He also tallied four rebounds and three steals. Giannis only scored 15 points, but he also had 14 rebounds despite playing only three quarters of the game. Rivers rested his starters for the entire fourth quarter.
On Monday night, fans will discover if Milwaukee has actually mastered the lesson of “acting like” contenders by staying focused on the work at hand and the objective ahead. They will face the defending NBA Champion Denver Nuggets at home, rather than a short-handed squad with a temporary roster.
The Bucks fell to the Nuggets 113-107 in Rivers’ first game as head coach in January.
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