The Milwaukee Bucks sleepwalked through another loss on Friday night, this time a 116-94 drubbing at the hands of the New York Knicks, who led by as many as 30 along the way. Long after the game, a frustrated Giannis Antetokounmpo criticized his team for their lack of effort and made it clear that these types of performances are not acceptable.
“We have to compete,” Antetokounmpo saying. “We have to do a better job competing. At the end of the day, coming to New York, playing like we do, teams won’t just give us games. Teams won’t feel bad for us and just won’t compete.” .
We have to come out with the mentality of competing for every possession, one possession at a time, every ball, every fumble. Whenever the ball is on the ground, we must place our body on the ground and try to catch it. Putting our body on the line. We have to do a better job competing. “We don’t compete at all.”
After a chaotic 2023-24 season that ended with another injury-influenced first-round playoff exit, the Bucks were hoping to get back on top this season. The idea was this: they had a full offseason with Doc Rivers, Damian Lillard was in better shape and more comfortable, they brought in reliable veterans to address some of their deficiencies, they were healthy, and of course Antetokounmpo was still on the team. peak of his powers.
Lillard looks much better and Antetokounmpo continues to dominate on both ends of the court, but nothing else has clicked. Khris Middleton, whom the team expected to be ready for opening night, has yet to play as he recovers from offseason ankle surgeries. The supporting cast, particularly the bench, has been a disaster. Bobby Portis is the only player, besides Antetokounmpo and Lillard, who averages double figures, and he does so with 49.6% true shooting. The defense is still a complete disaster, looking old, slow and out of place in the modern world.
At 2-7, the Bucks are tied for the third-worst record in the league, and the only teams they’ve beaten are the two below them in the standings: the Philadelphia 76ers without Joel Embiid and Paul George and a Utah Jazz team. that’s blatantly playing Capture the (Cooper) Flagg.
It looks like it’s going to be a long season in Milwaukee, but Antetokounmpo doesn’t want to see his team go down without a fight.
“If you’re not going to go out there and compete, you’re not going to win the game,” Antetokounmpo said. “Sometimes you compete hard and don’t win the game. But at least give yourself a chance.
“Doc is doing the best he can. He’s trying to figure out the rotation… I give him props for that. At the end of the day, the guys that play, we have to go out and compete. He can’t compete off the bench. “We have Boston in two days. If we don’t compete, we’ll lose by 30.”
