Bobby Portis was initially concerned that the Milwaukee Bucks would be complacent and play down to the level of the struggling Detroit Pistons on Saturday night. Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about anything at all.
The Bucks destroyed the Pistons in their weekend showdown, giving them no chance at all after taking a 23-point lead in the first quarter. Portis himself was sensational as he bagged an incredible double-double of 31 points and 12 rebounds to help Milwaukee secure the 146-114 win.
What delighted Portis about their performance, however, was the fact that they didn’t let the Pistons’ recent struggles affect their approach to the game. Detroit entered the meeting on a 22-game losing streak, so no one could have blamed Milwaukee if the team started slow and with little energy.
The odds favored the Buck heavily, and it’s easy for any team not to take such games seriously. Nonetheless, this Milwaukee team is different, playing as hard as they could right off the bat and not taking off the metal off the gas pedal until the final buzzer sounded.
Portis called such match-ups as “trap games,” but the good news is they didn’t fall into it.
“Sometimes those games can be trap games where like, I don’t like to say it, but you kind of just play down to the level of who you’re playing and you kind of take your foot off the gas and kind of relax and let them hang around the whole game, and in the fourth quarter it’s a tight game and you try to turn it on,” Portis said of the game, via the Associated Press.
“I like how we kind of started from the jump, jumped on them early and kind of controlled the game throughout the game.”
Bobby Portis Challenges Milwaukee Bucks Amid Homestand
The Milwaukee Bucks are now on a three-game winning streak, but once again, Bobby Portis reminded the team that their work is far from over. They have bigger aspirations this 2023-24 NBA season, and in order to do that, they have to consistently build good habits–including playing winning basketball at home.
After the win over the Pistons, the Bucks still have three straight games at home before going back on the road. With that said, Portis wants the team to use the opportunity to improve their overall team play and establish some rhythm that they can carry on when they travel away.
“I think it’s big for us in this homestand to find a rhythm, find ourselves, obviously on both sides of the ball and try to get some wins, try to win as many as we can at home before we go back on the road. I think it’s critical for us to play our good basketball here, protect our home court like we’ve been doing,” Portis explained, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The Bucks play the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic next. Aside from the Spurs, the other two have winning records, which should be a good test for Milwaukee. Hopefully, as Portis said, the team can make full use of it and establish a longer winning streak instead of getting on the wrong end of NBA news once again.
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