Thursday night’s NBA In-Season Tournament semifinal matchup against the Indiana Pacers did not end well for the Milwaukee Bucks. Instead of being one win away from being the inaugural IST champs, the Bucks are now on the outside looking in after a disappointing 128-119 loss against Tyrese Haliburton and Co.
As it turns out, emotions were running high in the locker room shortly after the final buzzer. This included veteran Bobby Portis “passionately challenging” head coach Adrian Griffin, per reports.
Bobby Portis Called Out Milwaukee Bucks Coach Adrian Griffin
According to Chris Haynes of The Athletic, Griffin wasted no time pointing out his team’s shortcomings during the game, particularly in the rebounding department. Apparently, Portis had a few things to say as well:
“Portis, who scored four points on just five shots against Indiana in a near-season-low 18 minutes, quickly interjected and stressed how essential it is for Griffin to structure the offense down the stretch of games, sources said,” wrote Haynes.
Bobby Portis is one of the vocal leaders in this squad and he certainly isn’t the type who keeps his feelings to himself. The veteran took exception to how Griffin coordinated the team’s offense toward the latter part of the game, and he just had to call his coach out for it — right in front of the entire squad.
Griffin Accepted Portis’ Criticism
For his part, Griffin used the opportunity to exhibit humility. Instead of reacting negatively to the call-out, the first-year coach took it like a champ:
“Griffin welcomed the criticism and acknowledged he could do a better job being more aggressive with his play-calling, sources say. The nine-year veteran explained that it’s a two-way street: direction is needed and then it’s up to the players to execute, sources say,” reported Haynes.
This could have easily been an ugly incident inside the Bucks locker room. However, you have to give credit to Griffin for reacting the way that he did. Hopefully, he earns more respect from his players after this incident.
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