Doc Rivers slaps Bucks with harsh truth bomb amid post-NBA Cup struggles
01/03/2025 09:13 AM
A new year and a newly reunited Big 3 added up not to an expected victory but to another lackluster performance for the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday at Fiserv Forum. Their home 113-110 loss to the Brooklyn Nets continued a gnarly hangover the team’s been nursing since they left Las Vegas riding high as NBA Cup champions just a few weeks ago.
“Going into Vegas, we were playing better than anybody in the NBA,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We go into Vegas, we win the thing. We have not returned back to that. And we have to get back to that.”
Up to and including Vegas, the team was on a 13-3 tear. Since Vegas, they’re just 3-4.
Earlier, Rivers pointed to the tough scheduling act of returning to NBA competition just days after winning the Cup in Las Vegas. He’s pointed to the absence of stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, who’ve both missed significant time with injuries and illness post-Vegas.
On Thursday, those excuses ran out. Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Khris Middleton, the team’s third All-Star, shared the court for just the second game this season. All were healthy. And the team got run off its own court by the Nets, a rebuilding team that was playing the second game of a back-to-back. The Nets moved to 13-21, and the victory gave them the third win of season against the Bucks, against one loss.
Although the final score suggested a close game, there was nothing close about it most of the way. The Nets throttled the Bucks, building on an 11-point halftime lead that grew to 24 in the third quarter and reached 21 midway through the fourth quarter. A furious Bucks rally late in the game brought the lead down to 3 points, but the team couldn’t close the gap.
“I don’t think we just had the right energy today,” said Bobby Portis, a bright spot for the Bucks with 15 points and 8 rebounds. “Sometimes in these types of games against a team like that, it’s not about Xs and Os, it’s not about making shots. It’s just effort, right? That team’s beaten us three times, and that’s strictly off all effort. Our effort wasn’t there.”
The Bucks’ ongoing struggles against the less talented and far less experienced Nets have much to do with battling against the team’s youth and athleticism. Their ball-hawking defensive pressure leaves the Bucks looking rattled, which creates turnovers and, often, transition points going the other way.
“We really didn’t run much offense tonight,” Rivers said. “We went with a lot of isos. The ball didn’t move the way we typically move it.”
Next up: the Portland Trail Blazers, who visit Milwaukee on Saturday.
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