The Milwaukee Bucks were absolutely humbled by the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. were slapped with a brutal wake-up call by the Dubs after the Bucks had amassed an impressive six-game winning streak.
The message was clear after Golden State embarrassed the Bucks in a 125-90 blowout: Milwaukee still has a lot of work to do if they want to go and win it all this season.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Sounds Off on Loss
For the better part of the season, defense has been a major issue for the Bucks. Their problems on this side of the ball reared their ugly head again on Wednesday night but at the same time, this wasn’t the be-all and end-all of their 35-point drubbing at the hands of the Warriors.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers pointed out of the game that their offense was the bigger problem. Giannis Antetokounmpo echoed his coach’s thoughts in a painfully honest post-game tirade:
“We cannot allow our offense to dictate our defense,” Antetokounmpo said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “At the end of the day, we gotta be better. They scored 125 points. At the half, they had 78.
“In the first six minutes of the third quarter, I think we were aggressive, we were being physical, we were making them shoot tough shots, and in the first couple of minutes, they had like five points. We got back into the game, and after that, the moment that the ball is not moving, everybody’s not touching it, everybody’s not getting energy, now our defense is not as good.“
As Giannis noted, the Bucks tried to make a game of it in the third quarter. They even ended up outscoring their opponents 23-15 in the period. And then, as Antetokounmpo pointed out as well, Milwaukee suddenly lost focus and ended up throwing away what they had worked for.
The Warriors held the Bucks to just nine points, while scoring another 32 on their end of the floor to complete the blowout.
Simply put, the Bucks have to be much better than this moving forward.
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