The Milwaukee Bucks’ shortcomings on the defensive end were on full display yet again on Wednesday night in their disappointing 142-130 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
The Bucks did not fare much better on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs. They were able to scrape out a 125-121 win over the Spurs, but the fact that a five-win San Antonio side nearly pulled off a major upset speaks volumes of Milwaukee’s struggles of late.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Speaks Out on Milwaukee Bucks’ Defensive Woes
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s highly entertaining bout against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, Giannis got brutally honest about his team’s issues on the defensive end:
“I’ve been a part of a few teams that have been No. 1 in defense, but at the end of the day, it’s all about pride and effort,” Antetokounmpo said after losing to the Pacers for a fourth time this season, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “If you have no pride and you don’t put no effort in it, you don’t get no results. At times, I think we have a lot of pride because we know that we are extremely good and we play hard, and at times, we don’t.
“You gotta figure out a way how can you just keep that engine going for longer. But again, the sky’s the limit, I believe, if we lock in as a team and figure out that we cannot let a team score 140 points on us and we’re trying to score 142. You cannot be consistent that way. So we have to be able to guard. We have to do a better job guarding.”
Unfortunately for the Bucks, they were not able to figure it all out on Thursday against the Spurs. They allowed San Antonio to score 121 points on them in a game that was too close for comfort. The now 5-29 Spurs entered Thursday’s contest averaging 113.0 points per game, which is ranked 23rd in the NBA.
Giannis and the Bucks will need to be much better on the defensive end on Saturday when they return to action against the Houston Rockets to close out their current three-game road trip.
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