Giannis Antetokounmpo played like a giant on Saturday to will the Milwaukee Bucks to a hard-earned victory over the Sacramento Kings. Doc Rivers will need more of him as the coach is worried about his depleted big man line-up.
The team played their third game with just one legit center in the line-up. Brook Lopez continues to hold the forth as he is alone down under with the injury to back-up center Jericho Sims and suspension being served by Bobby Portis.
Antetokounmpo has to play the five at times and he had some success against the Kings. He scored 22 points in third quarter alone of that game, finishing with 32 points and 17 rebounds.
The lack of big man has been glaring in the past games before the two straight victories. The team lost to Oklahoma City Thunder who fielded their twin towers of Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren.
Lopez has to have his minutes stretched and Antetokounmpo, just like what he did against the Kings, needs to be always dominant to offset who they are missing in the line-up.
Milwaukee Bucks’ banged up roster
Big men are not the only ones the Bucks are missing. They also miss the services of big-time scorer Damian Lillard.
These injuries came at a time when the team is gearing up for a tighter schedule which coaches and players said they could have used to build team chemistry and good habits.
“It’d be nice to get whole. No Dame right now. No Bobby. No Jericho. We literally are stuck with one five on the floor in Brook [Lopez]. When we take Brook out, we don’t have a five. We don’t have a five on our roster. We are not going to be able to have that March melding because some of these guys are not going to be able to play,” Rivers said after their last game.
Although the struggle is showing, Rivers remain patient. He believes the team will be fine despite missing key guys.
“But I think we know our identity anyway. I think we know who we are. Rotation-wise, I think we know how we want to play, and I think we’ll be fine.”
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