MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo sat alone at his locker more than an hour after the Milwaukee Bucks suffered a miserable 122-109 fourth straight loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday, trailing 72-48 in the second half. . I sat in a quiet, nearly empty locker room at the Fiserv Forum, watching the Bucks skate.
Most nights, Antetokounmpo is the last player out of the locker room, as Pat Connaughton is getting ready a few blocks away from his locker or Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Giannis’ younger brother, is chatting away in Greek. I tend to be one of them. Giannis and Thanasis were the last two players to miss Sunday. There was little conversation between them.
When Giannis Antetokounmpo finally spoke to the media, he spoke about the Bucks’ spirit during their struggles. While answering questions about the team’s inability to find joy in its recent play, he found himself asking a series of rhetorical questions and playing it off. .
“When was the last time Malik did…” Antetokounmpo asked before playing off teammate Malik Beasley’s trademark 3-point celebration.
“When was the last time the Pats hit a three?” Antetokounmpo asked, then motioned for a three and wiped it on his chest, as Connaughton does after hitting a big shot from deep.
“When was the last time Jay hit a 3 and turned around?” Antetokounmpo asked, pretending to backpedal down the floor like Jae Crowder.
“When was the last time you dunked on someone and went, ‘Aaaaaaah!'” Antetokounmpo asked, pretending to scream at an imaginary packed home crowd after a spectacular dunk.
“It’s like going through the motions,” Antetokounmpo said. “We have to bring back joy.”
Joy has been difficult for the Bucks to acquire lately, as they have lost six of their last seven games, their longest losing streak of the season. The Bucks (47-31) remain in second place in the Eastern Conference standings, as many other teams in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoffs have struggled as well. However, the Knicks and Orlando Magic are one game behind Milwaukee.
The Bucks are playing some of their worst basketball as the final week of the regular season approaches, but they’re still working to right the ship for the postseason and their ultimate goal of an NBA championship.
On Saturday, Bucks manager Doc Rivers announced the following: Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Beasley, Bobby Portis, Patrick Beverley, Connaughton and Crowder, according to a person briefed on the meeting. He reportedly held a video session with the top nine veteran rotation players. . During that session, each player was asked to express their opinion, what they saw from their perspective, and how they believed the team needed to act selflessly to move forward as a unit. I was given a chance to explain.
“This is just the beginning of these difficult and necessary conversations,” one official described the session.
However, against the Knicks on Sunday, the Bucks were unable to move into the winning conversation. The Bucks got off to a strong start, building a double-digit lead in the first half, but things quickly deteriorated.
With 6:12 left in the second quarter, Middleton was ejected after taking a hard shot to the face from Donte DiVincenzo after a miss at the rim by a Knicks guard. Although it was unintentional, DiVincenzo’s fist appeared to hit Middleton in the face as he landed. Middleton sat on the floor beneath the Knicks’ basket and immediately began bleeding from the mouth.
“Chris was great to start the game. He was really great,” Rivers said after the game. “You just feel sorry for him. The guy can’t catch a break. I mean, what are the odds that you go into a match thinking, ‘Okay, I’m going to knock my teeth out tonight.’
“He’s having one of those seasons right now, but everything can turn around for him, so that’s OK. I think he came in fired up again tonight, so we’ll just have to be lucky.“
Rivers said Middleton did not return, leaving the arena immediately after the game and making an emergency visit to the dentist.
It was a shame to lose Middleton. This is the first time in more than a week that the Bucks have started a game with their big three of Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Middleton, and Sunday was the eighth time this season that they have started a game together under coach Rivers. . In reality, it’s closer to just six games, but Middleton left two of them early with injury (Feb. 6 against the Phoenix Suns and Sunday night against the Knicks with a sprained left ankle). .
If the Bucks are to find a way to make the playoffs, they need a healthy roster, but they also need to build better chemistry between their three best offensive players.
“We had a two-man system that worked and started to work, but it was just me and Giannis,” Lillard said of the Bucks’ offensive flow under Rivers. “You have to make things work when you have me, Chris and Giannis, it’s all part of the process.
“You can’t just put it out there and say, ‘Give it a try,’ and things will go smoothly. A new coach comes in and he has things he wants to do and he wants to do them a certain way. ”
Without Middleton in the second half, the Bucs’ offense began to stall, reverting to too many isolation plays, a common problem this season. After assisting on 17 of their 20 first-half goals, the Bucks stopped moving the ball and their offense stagnated. The Bucks scored six points in the first six minutes of the second half, erased an 11-point halftime lead, and the Knicks quickly scored 20 points to take a 70-67 lead with 6:03 left in the third quarter. The Knicks never relinquished the lead and remained comfortably in control for the final quarter and a half, en route to a 13-point victory.
However, despite recent struggles, Bucks team leaders continue to share a positive attitude and internal belief in their ability to compete for a championship this season has remained unwavering.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I feel good,” Lillard said. “Obviously, I hate that the last couple of weeks have gone by, no matter how long they’ve been. Losing a game you should have won, a game like tonight, playing well at first, then losing in the third quarter. It’s unpleasant and frustrating when you have bad players and then they take over the game. But when you look around the locker room, it makes you feel better.
“I see Giannis, Chris, Bobby, Brook, Jay, Pat, Bees. When I look around, I really believe in what we have, the experience we have, and how long we’ve been around. And I know it gets dark sometimes. This league is a tough league. It’s going to be tough at times. And I think that’s the case for us as well. And things like this happen. And everyone would say how terrible it is. And, “Here’s the problem.” (or) “They have to do this. They have to do that. But if you keep fighting in these conditions, you never know when things will change.
“That’s why we have to stay together and we have to keep believing. And these are the moments where you know who’s real and who’s not. Everyone’s going to have something negative to say, and that’s why we have to keep believing. How wrong we are, how bad it is and we can fold or not fold. That’s what we’re going to learn about ourselves going into the playoffs based on what we’re going through right now.”
It’s good to have and maintain positivity and strong belief, but with the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics, coming to Japan on Tuesday and the Bucks only having one week of regular league play left, the Bucks are in a position to change things. We need to turn things around quickly. A season to prepare for the postseason.
(Photo of Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
