MILWAUKEE — More than an hour after the Milwaukee Bucks lost their fourth consecutive game, a disappointing 122-109 loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday in which they were outscored 72-48 in the second half, Giannis Antetokounmpo sat alone at his locker. A quiet, nearly empty locker room at Fiserv Forum contemplating the Bucks slide.
Most nights, Antetokounmpo is one of the last players out of the locker room as Pat Connaughton will be a few lockers away getting ready or Giannis’ brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, will be chatting with him in Greek. Giannis and Thanasis were the last two players standing Sunday. There was very little conversation between them.
When Giannis Antetokounmpo finally spoke to the media, he addressed his feeling amid the Bucks’ struggles. While responding to a question about his team’s recent play and inability to play with joy, he found himself asking and acting out several rhetorical questions.
“When was the last time Malik did that…” Antetokounmpo asked before enacting teammate Malik Beasley’s trademark 3-point shimmy celebration.
“When was the last time Pat hit a 3 and did…” Antetokounmpo asked before signaling the 3 and wiping it on his chest, as Connaughton does after hitting a big shot from deep.
“When was the last time Jay hit a 3, went back and he came back like this…” Antetokounmpo asked, pretending to backpedal on the floor like Jae Crowder.
“When was the last time I dunked someone and went ‘Ahhh!’ Said,” Antetokounmpo asked as he pretended to yell at an imaginary, sellout home crowd after a huge dunk.
“It’s almost like we’re going through the motions,” Antetokounmpo said. “We have to find our happiness back.”
Joy has been difficult to come by for the Bucks lately, as they have lost six of their last seven games and find themselves on their longest losing streak of the season. The Bucks (47-31) are still in second place in the Eastern Conference standings, as several other teams in the middle of the East playoff picture have struggled. But the Knicks and Orlando Magic are one game behind Milwaukee.
As they approach the final weeks of the regular season, the Bucks are playing some of their worst basketball, but they haven’t stopped working toward righting the ship ahead of the postseason and their ultimate goal of an NBA championship. .
On Saturday, Bucks coach Doc Rivers discussed the team’s top nine veteran rotation players with Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Beasley, Bobby Portis, Patrick Beverley, Connaughton and Crowder, according to sources briefed on the meeting. Organized a film session. , During that session, each player was given the opportunity to speak their mind and explain what they are seeing from their perspective, as well as what they believe will help the team move forward as a unit with selflessness. Need to work from.
“This is only the beginning of these difficult and necessary conversations,” one source said, describing the session.
However, on Sunday against the Knicks, the Bucks were unable to carry that conversation to a win. The game started out well and the Bucks took a double-digit lead in the first half, but things quickly turned sour.
With 6:12 left in the second quarter, Middleton left the game after taking a hard shot to the face from Donte DiVincenzo following a miss at the rim by a Knicks guard. Although not intentional, DiVincenzo’s fist appeared to hit Middleton in the face as he was landing. Middleton’s mouth immediately began bleeding as he sat on the floor under the Knicks basket.
“Khris started the game very well; He was absolutely awesome,” Rivers said after the game. “You just feel bad for him. The boy can’t catch a break. I mean, what are the chances of you going into a game going, ‘Okay, tonight, I’m going to break a tooth.’
“He’s having one of those seasons right now, but that’s OK because it can all change for him. I thought that even though he came with great enthusiasm tonight, it was just bad luck.,
According to Rivers, Middleton left the field immediately after leaving the game for an emergency visit to the dentist and did not return.
Losing Middleton was unfortunate, as Sunday was the first time the Bucks had put their big three of Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Middleton on the floor together to start a game in more than a week and only the eighth time this season they Started playing together under the river. , In reality, it’s only been closer to six games, as Middleton has left two of those games early — a left ankle sprain against the Phoenix Suns on Feb. 6 and Sunday night against the Knicks — due to injury.
If the Bucks are to find a way to make a deep playoff run, they will need a healthy roster, but they will also need to build better chemistry between their three best offensive players.
“We started getting the two-man thing to work and work and work, but it was just me and Giannis out there,” Lillard said of the Bucks’ offensive flow under Rivers. “When me, Khris and Giannis are out there we have to be able to work, and it’s all part of a process.
“You can’t just put it out there and say, ‘Do this,’ and it flows easily. We have a new coach coming in and there are certain things he wants to do and he wants it done a certain way.
Without Middleton in the second half, the Bucks’ offense began to stagnate and play too much in isolation, which has been a regular problem this season. After assisting on 17 of 20 baskets in the first half, the Bucks stopped moving the ball and their offense stalled. In the first six minutes of the second half, the Bucks scored six points and their 11-point halftime lead vanished, and the Knicks quickly scored 20 points to lead 70–67 with 6:03 left in the third quarter. . The Knicks did not relinquish the lead and maintained comfortable control through the final quarter and half on their way to a 13-point victory.
However, despite their recent struggles, Bucks team leaders have continued to share positivity, and their inner confidence in their ability to compete for a championship this season has not diminished.
“I mean, as crazy as it sounds, I feel good,” Lillard said. “Obviously, I hate how the last two weeks, no matter how long it has been, have gone by. It’s uncomfortable and disappointing to lose games that we should win and then have a game like tonight where we start out playing well and then have a bad third quarter and give those guys confidence and then they take over the game. Let’s take. But when I look around the locker room, I feel good about it.
“I look at Giannis, Khris, Bobby and Brooke and Jay and Pat, Bess. When I look around, I just have true confidence in what we have, our experience, how long we’ve been around. And I know it gets dark sometimes. This league is a tough league. Sometimes you have hard times. And I think that’s it for us. And when things like this happen, everyone will say how bad it is. And that is the problem.’ (or) ‘They have to do this; They will have to do this. But when you keep fighting in these situations, you never know when the turn will come.
“So you have to stick together, you have to keep the faith. And these are the moments where you find out who is real and who is not, because everyone will be saying negative things and how wrong it is and how bad it is, and you can turn or you can’t turn. Based on the experience we have right now, this is what we will learn going into the playoffs.
While it’s good to keep and maintain positivity and conviction, the Bucks will have to turn things around quickly because the Boston Celtics, the NBA’s best team, are coming to town on Tuesday, and the Bucks only have one week left of the regular season. Season to prepare yourself for later.
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(Photo of Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
