Giannis Antetokounmpo Makes 1 Demand to Locker Room as Vegas Hangover Troubles Bucks After Loss to Nets

The Milwaukee Bucks left the game too late against the Brooklyn Nets. Trailing by 20 points, a fourth-quarter surge made it a possession-to-possession contest. The Nets didn’t score a basket for the last seven minutes. Yet, they emerged victorious for the third time against the Deers this season. For Giannis Antetokounmpo, his message to the team was profound. This has to be taken on their egos.

One of the admirable traits of the Greek Freak is his willingness to compete at a high level. As the talisman, that is also the standard he expects the team to be meeting regularly. So when he used the word “easy” frequently in his post-game interview, that’s where the call for change came from.

Giannis Antetokounmpo expects the season record against the Nets to serve as a reminder. “Obviously, they are giving us problems. Played them four times, beat us three times, and at the end of the day a game like this is about individual pride. It’s just about who is going to compete, who is going to play harder. And I think three out of four times they played harder than us,” the two-time MVP commented.

It’s a little different for Doc Rivers. He expects the Bucks to do a better job. However, he also believes the team has suffered since winning the NBA Cup.

“Honestly, I thought we have played the right way overall. Since Vegas we have been shorthanded. Tonight, there’s not a lot of nights like this where we play offense like we did tonight. And I thought defensively they were comfortable the whole as well. They beat us off the dribble,” the head coach said.

In that regard, the Bucks missed both Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo for a chunk of games. However, a loss against an inferior team needs to be addressed with greater accountability. Still, Rivers revealed he didn’t have a locker room talk with the team.

Why didn’t Rivers speak with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co?

The Bucks offense only generated 90 points until the fourth quarter. The Nets scored 111 points before the Bucks went on their fourth-quarter burst, which went in vain. Hence, the loss was frustrating for fans and the franchise. But that wasn’t the reason Doc Rivers chose not to go over the result in the locker room.

The seasoned head coach believes the team themselves knew what went wrong. And the reason for not speaking right after is the emotions. “You say very little because it’s too emotional. So tomorrow we will watch film and then I will have a talk. You know what, most of the time they know. And they absolutely kew how we performed tonight. They didn’t need the coach to tell them,” Rivers explained.

It might be an approach that won’t sit well with some. But Doc Rivers is transparent about the conduct of his players. What he felt lacked tonight was execution. He even revealed, “I’m going to say seven times out of timeouts we didn’t execute the play”. Offensively, although the Bucks matched the Nets’ intensity till the third quarter, their three-point shooting let them down.

Still, each loss comes with its own lessons. Giannis Antetokounmpo was only playing in his second game since returning. Furthermore, with Khris Middleton returning to the starting lineup, there could be a period of adjustment that Milwaukee has to go through to make the team fluent once again.

Still, when they do re-watch the film tomorrow, Rivers will most likely have a lot to say about the way the Bucks played tonight.