The Milwaukee Bucks celebrated their NBA Cup title with a simple ceremony through a boring banner but their record after that suggests they’re not yet over it, leaving head coach Doc Rivers frustrated.
The Bucks returned to NBA regular season with a blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers but managed to string up two wins against the Washington Wizards and the Chicago Bulls. Then, they lost two straight, two close ones against the Brooklyn Nets and the Bulls.
Rivers feels frustrated with the way things have gone. He even thinks that they should be 18-12 by now instead of 16-14.
“It is (frustrating), but what can you do about it?” Rivers said through The Athletic after weekend loss to Chicago.
“If guys are out, they’re out and you still want to win games. I think we should have won the last two games, but should have and doing it is two different things. I don’t look back. Like, OK, yeah, we could have been 18-12, but we’re not. So what are you going to do about it?”
The guys who were out for the Bucks were their two top scorers. Giannis Antetokounmpo (32.7ppg) missed the last four while Damian Lillard (25 ppg) missed the first four games and returned only on Saturday.
The Bucks will be back in action on New Year’s Eve against the Indiana Pacers.
Doc Rivers preaches defense
The Bucks had two-day rest after the Bulls and that should mean they were able to figure things out what went wrong for them.
For Rivers, it is the defensive, something they were able to show in the past games even if they were without Antetokounmpo.
You’re going to go and keep building. Hopefully we get everybody back, we start playing well and get back to the way we were playing, but we haven’t returned to the way we were playing yet. I did think the first Chicago game defensively, that’s the best we’ve been maybe all year. And, yeah, we have guys out, but other than that, we have not returned back to that and we will.
There is a possibility that they will have everybody back.
Recent injury report for the Bucks revealed that the Greek Freak is listed as questionable after battling non-covid illness in the past two weeks. He already joined team scrimmages according to Bucks reporter Eric Nehm.
Lillard is also expected to play while AJ Green is listed as questionable with right calf contusion. Khris Middleton who carried the load with the two main player out is also questionable due to bilateral ankle surgery he already recovered from.
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