The Milwaukee Bucks let Sunday’s night game against the Utah Jazz slip through their fingers. They had a 95-83 lead entering the fourth quarter and it seemed like they were well on their way to giving new head coach Doc Rivers his second win.
The Jazz poured it on in the final frame, though, outscoring the Bucks 40-13 in a scorching hot run for the home team. Ultimately, the Bucks fell, 123-108.
Milwaukee Bucks Coach Doc Rivers Speaks Out on Missed Opportunity
You can point to a number of factors that led to Milwaukee’s fourth-quarter meltdown. For Coach Doc, however, there’s only one lingering regret he has from the loss. According to the 62-year-old, he would have liked to give Robin Lopez more playing time than he had:
“The only guy, honestly, I thought I could have played Robin more,” Rivers said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “That was our game plan going in. That was the one thing I thought we could have did more just to get guys some rest, but can’t do it now.”
Lopez came off the bench in this one after getting the spot start on Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks. Robin filled in for his twin brother, Brook, who was out of action for both games due to personal reasons.
Despite entering the starting lineup on Saturday, however, Lopez logged just four minutes against the Mavs. He had the same amount of playing time against the Jazz.
As Rivers said, he had planned on giving Lopez more time on the floor, particularly on Sunday in Utah. The circumstances did not allow him to do so, though, which has resulted in some regret from the Bucks coach.
Giannis Antetokounmpo ended up playing 40 minutes in back-to-back nights, while Damian Lillard logged 38 minutes in both games. It would have been nice to give Milwaukee’s superstars more rest, particularly on the second night of a back-to-back set, but the Jazz just weren’t having it.
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