Offensively, the Milwaukee Bucks are without a doubt one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA right now. The fact that they added Damian Lillard this summer to an already elite offense only led to an even more formidable attack.
At the same time, however, there’s also no denying that defense has been a major issue for the Bucks all season long. This problem reared its ugly head again on Christmas Day as Milwaukee suffered a 129-122 loss against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Milwaukee Bucks Coach Adrian Griffin Comments on Knicks Loss
After the game, Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin spoke honestly about his team’s shortcomings on the evening. According to the first-year shot-caller, his team’s inability to get enough stops against the Knicks was one of the key factors that ultimately led to the loss:
“I’d say it started with transition defense,” Griffin said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “I think we gave up 23 points in transition defense. It’s tough.
“A lot of people don’t think of the Knicks as a transition team, but if you look at over their last four, five games, they’ve been top 3 in transition. They get the ball out on the advanced pass, they’ve got guys that can attack the rim, Barrett and Brunson and (Julius) Randle, so I thought that was one of the areas that really hurt us.”
According to Coach Griff, Milwaukee’s issues on transition defense, in particular, were something that doomed them against the Knicks.
The fact that they allowed no less than four Knicks players to score at least 20 points — led by Jalen Brunson’s 38-point eruption — is a clear testament to this fact.
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