The Milwaukee Bucks have been on a strong win streak recently, but head coach Doc Rivers bluntly admitted that his team did not have enough fight in them against the Orlando Magic on Saturday evening. The Bucks allowed a Magic team that had lost five straight to achieve a near-wire-to-wire win at Fiserv Forum.
Doc Rivers Criticizes the Milwaukee Bucks’ for Lack of Effort
Head coach Doc Rivers had a simple and direct sentiment on his mind after the 111-109 loss at home that snapped the Bucks’ recent four-game win streak. He felt that the team did not play hard enough and allowed the Magic to win on sheer will.
“The other team in the other locker-room to me played harder than us tonight. I think we could see that.”
On a day where the Bucks outrebounded the opponent and shot a much higher percentage from three-point land, the Orlando Magic came into Milwaukee and ended their five-game skid against a hot Bucks team. Paolo Banchero led the team with 29 points, and Cole Anthony had an impressive 22 points and 8 assists, including setting up Banchero with a nice driving pass that resulted in a dunk with under thirty seconds left.
The Magic bench outscored Milwaukee’s 26-14, with five players contributing in the scoring column off the pine compared to Milwaukee’s two. AJ Green missed all three of his shots, including one with under a minute to go that was not even close. Orlando’s Anthony Black had 11 points while Tristan da Silva had 5, 3 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal in just 11 minutes.
Orlando is a much younger team and was clearly determined to end their five-game losing streak. A much deeper rotation of 11 players compared to Milwaukee’s 8 may have contributed to the starkly different energy levels.
Doc Rivers Speaks on the Final Play of the Game
The Bucks had a chance to win the game, inbounding the ball in the halfcourt while down 2 with just 6.6 seconds left in the game. It was Damian Lillard who had the ball in his hands, but his tough step-back three did not fall, and the Bucks fell by two.
Rivers was asked about his thoughts on the final play, and the head coach was mostly satisfied with the action of the play despite the obviously unfortunate result.
“It was a tough look. I like who had the ball. I didn’t think our spacing was particularly great on that. I wish we had the floor flat. I think we had one guy up and that actually helped (the Magic), but other than that, it was what it was. I’ll live with Dame taking a game-winning shot every day, all day.”
Lillard ended with 26 points on the night on 9-18 shooting, but an overwhelmingly poor -19 +/- rating reveals that the All-Star guard may not have been as impactful as the points column might indicate.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 37 points on 15-23 from the floor. 7 of them came from the free throw line on 11 attempts. Despite another excellent night from the Greek Freak, the team turned to Lillard when it mattered most, and Antetokounmpo did not touch the ball on the final possession.
While Lillard is obviously much more well-equipped to score a contested jump shot, particularly one from three-point territory, with almost 7 seconds left, Antetokounmpo definitely could have had the opportunity to be inbounded the ball and drive to the basket. Even a post-up opportunity could have been in play, as on the previous possession, Antetokounmpo found himself under the basket and scored a physical and-one.
Nonetheless, the Bucks must move on from the loss quickly in preparation for the second game of a back-to-back, which will be a massive one. The Bucks have another home game against the east-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.
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