The Milwaukee Bucks lost their third game in their last four on Saturday against the Houston Rockets. Since the calendar turned to 2024, the Bucks have won just one game, which happened to be a close encounter against a 5-30 San Antonio Spurs side.
At this point, it would be safe to say that Milwaukee has not had the best start to the new year.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Sends Strong Message to Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks aren’t panicking, though. After all, they are still second in the Eastern Conference with a 25-11 record. They remain just 3.5 games behind the top-seeded Boston Celtics, who currently have a 28-7 record.
Bucks talisman Giannis Antetokounmpo put things into perspective following Saturday’s deflating 112-108 loss to the Houston Rockets:
“At the end of the day, this is not the end of the world,” Antetokounmpo said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “It’s not the end of the world, for sure. It’s a start for us to go the direction that we want to go. This is not who we are. This is not who we are. And if we keep on this pace, I don’t think we’re going to get where we need to get to.”
As always, Antetokounmpo has remained optimistic. However, he has also sent a stern warning to his team about needing to have more urgency. As he said, the Bucks won’t get anywhere if they don’t start improving soon.
‘We Have to Be Better’
Antetokounmpo then called on every single member of the Bucks to step their game up. Giannis knows that his team is at a crossroads right now and that this is a pivotal part of their season. The former back-to-back MVP is now challenging his team — including himself, of course — to step up to the plate:
“We have to be better,” he continued. “We have to play better. We have to defend better. We have to trust one another better. We have to be coached better. Every single thing, everybody has to be better. Everybody. It starts from the equipment manager. He has to wash our clothes better. The bench has to be better. The leaders of the team have to be more vocal. We have to make more shots. We have to defend better. We have to have better strategy. We have to be better…
“We have four months to get better, so let’s see.”
As Giannis said, there’s still a very long way to go this season.
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