Milwaukee Bucks players speak on bouncing back after loss at Brooklyn
Milwaukee Bucks players Kevin Porter Jr., Myles Turner and Ryan Rollins speak on bouncing back after a tough loss at Brooklyn on Dec. 14.
- The Milwaukee Bucks have struggled with inconsistency, highlighted by a big win against the Celtics followed by a historic loss to the Nets.
- Head coach Doc Rivers remains steadfast in his belief in the current team, stating no major changes are planned despite their losing record.
- Players and coaches have identified a lack of consistent effort and a need to establish a “play hard” identity as key issues.
The Milwaukee Bucks wrapped up a rather unique 11-day period on Dec. 17, during which they had two off days (Dec. 7-8), one film day (Dec. 12), five practices (Dec. 9-10, Dec. 13, Dec. 16-17) and games against Boston and Brooklyn that couldn’t have had more disparate outcomes.
On Dec. 11, they beat one of the hottest teams in the NBA in the Celtics and on Dec. 14 suffered the fourth-worst loss in franchise history at the hands of the tanking Nets.
So where do the Bucks stand as they get set to host the current No. 3 team in the Eastern Conference in the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 18 at Fiserv Forum?
The record says 11-16, five games in the loss column behind the Raptors (16-11). Milwaukee has not won consecutive games since late October, however. They are last in the NBA in total rebounding, offensive rebounding and free throw shooting and in the bottom third of the league in field goal attempts, scoring and scoring defense.
When Doc Rivers was asked on Dec. 17 what his line for change was – in any fashion or area – if the results still were not being found, he was steadfast.
“There is none,” he began. “Guys, we’re not going to make any changes. I’m just gonna get you off this because this is what you’ve been on for two days, all right? We like our team. I really like this team. We’re not playing well. We’re not playing well for a lot of reasons. You don’t recreate the wheel. You just don’t. Teams that do that, then they fail. I’m just being honest. I’ve been around this long enough.
“So, yeah, we want to do things better. We want to tweak things. We like what we run. We like our defensive package overall. We just gotta do it better. We gotta take care of the ball. But we like the parts of this team, and that has not changed.
“This is not, OK guys, we’re five games under .500, let’s blow it all up and do it all. This is not where we’re at. We’re not even thinking in those terms. So, you’re gonna see, hopefully, a better package each time we play. And that’s what we’re working on.”
Bucks are trying to grasp ‘play hard’ identity
Following a frustrating week from Dec. 1-6 when the team lost to the worst team in the East at Washington, beat top-seeded Detroit without Giannis Antetokounmpo (who strained a calf in the opening minutes) and then lost to Philadelphia and Detroit back-to-back, the players spoke of having a lack of an identity.
Following practice on Dec. 9 after a couple of days off, Rivers pushed back on that, saying without Antetokounmpo (or a fully healthy team) it’s difficult to create that identity. But it didn’t mean a message wasn’t being conveyed behind the scenes.
“Without much continuity, I think you have to hang your hat on hard play and put in the backbone of our defense,” Bucks center Myles Turner said after practice Dec. 9. “I think that’s what we kind of came up with.
“I think that when you don’t have your main guys out there, there’s always hungry guys out there searching. You got the Andre Jacksons of the world going out there to provide sparks off the bench, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the Pete Nances and Amir Coffeys, Gary Harris, guys that come in and provide energy. That has to sprinkle into the first and second units as well, you know what I mean? Just that hard play aspect of things I think alleviates a lot of things.
“And then, just know what we’re playing for, you know what I mean? It’s just a bigger purpose than all of ourselves. You gotta give yourself to the team to be successful. So allowing those things just to happen.”
Following the team’s victory over the Celtics, the players said Rivers and the coaches got on them for two days about how they had not been playing hard, and the head coach said the team went through exaggerated “multiple-effort” drills in the Dec. 9-10 practices to help reinforce the messaging.
Kyle Kuzma: “We came into practice and the whole message was, ‘we don’t play hard.’ We don’t play hard enough. You look at all the top teams, look at (Oklahoma City), obviously they’re an anomaly because they’re so damn good, but they play hard every possession and I think that tonight we got that message.”
Bobby Portis Jr.: “We worked our tails off the last couple days. Doc and his staff been on us, just playing harder and bringing more energy to the game. I feel like if we would’ve just gave a little more effort and energy over the first 25 games, maybe our record would be different, right?”
Kevin Porter Jr.: “Sometimes you just gotta go back to fundamentals. The effort game. I think the second efforts and just practicing it kind of got our brains turned on a little bit. I think that’s just the identity that we want.”
The players who spoke after that Celtics game each admitted they had to bring that same intensity to the game in Brooklyn a couple days later. There was a film session Dec. 12 and a practice Dec. 13.
“Just practice good habits, keep what was good from last game and try and replicate it,” Thanasis Antetokounmpo said after that practice.
“I don’t think there’s a secret sauce into winning games. Winning is a habit. The misconception of people is a lot of times is oh, you win and it’s always smooth. No, no, winning is the total opposite. Winning is, it’s a grind at the beginning. You win and win and then it becomes second nature.”
Unfortunately for the Bucks, not only did they not win consecutive games for the first time since October, they were trounced in a game Kuzma called the low point of the season.
“I thought that was, that was, awful,” Rivers said of the Nets loss. “Awful all around. On me, ‘cause I clearly didn’t get ‘em ready. And on us.
“Give Brooklyn credit, they played hard as heck, they moved the ball, they played right. We didn’t. We gave up 30 points in turnovers.
“Not until the beginning of the second half did we actually look like a basketball team where we started passing the ball, but by then the basketball gods decided you can’t make any open shots now. You don’t deserve to. So, that was disappointing.
“Probably one of the more disappointing games I’ve ever been involved in with the way we performed and competed. We wanted to blame everybody but ourselves. We’re blaming the refs, we’re looking at each other. No one wanted to play hard. And, you know, that was, we got a lot of soul-searching to do.”
Rivers then acknowledged, “we don’t really know who we are right now. We really don’t.”
But on Dec. 17, when he was asked if playing hard was a “controllable” for players, Rivers bristled.
“I think people think it’s just that easy and it’s not as easy as it sounds,” the coach said. “Like if everyone did that, wouldn’t everybody be good? And play hard every night? I’m serious, it’s not as easy as saying, ‘You know, guys everybody has to play harder. Everybody has to have the right emotions.’ You’re dealing with 15 different individuals and everybody deals with things differently. But the bottom line is, and I’m being honest, we’re not thinking about all that stuff. We’re just trying to be a better basketball team right now. That’s it.”
What are the Bucks doing to get better?
Over the last few practices, the players and Rivers have said the team has simplified the offensive and defensive schemes, and Porter said it could be in an effort to better foster that “play hard” identity.
“Just having a scheme, an identity no matter what five is on the court has helped a lot,” Porter said on Dec. 17. “Just simplifying the offense and trusting our defense still and putting effort with everything is what we need to do every day.”
The head coach has continued to harp on the team being smarter with the ball and limiting turnovers, not fouling as much and rebounding to help generate additional shots. Creating better spacing on offense also has been a priority.
During the practices on Dec. 9-10, the team worked in some one-on-one matchups with the multiple-effort drills and practiced some sets over and over. During the practices on Dec. 16-17, the team went “live,” playing more in five-on-five settings. There was more film work after the Brooklyn loss, also, but Rivers insisted he was not going to change much despite the team’s struggles.
That included not putting an emphasis on getting Turner, who averaged nearly 17 points per game the last three seasons but is down to 12.2 on a near career-low 9.3 shots per game, more involved offensively. Rivers also said moving most improved player candidate Ryan Rollins back to the second unit wasn’t going to be an immediate option.
“Just keep doing it, doing it differently. No changes offensively. Simplify some things defensively,” Rivers said Dec. 16. “But at the end of the day, I don’t overdo things. Forty-eight hours ago we were in a good place, you know? Then we get blown out, and then we’re in a bad place.
“You cant just keep flippin’ and floppin’. That’s what people want you to do. ‘You should do this’ and that’s not what you should do. You should stay as consistent as possible. Demand it more, and sub differently when they’re not.”
That said, Rivers acknowledged he couldn’t sub after every unbreakable rule was broken, and pointed to the Nets game by saying that the assistant coaches would have had to play.
So, perhaps a greater sense of self-accountability will be the way to go for the Bucks to begin to stack wins for the first time all season. When Rivers was asked about why the team has struggled in that regard, he began with, “Well, either one or two things: Either we’re not executing well enough or we’re not good enough. One of the two.”
He continued: “The only thing I told our guys, I didn’t like that ‘we can’t get blown out by that team (Brooklyn).’ Yeah, no, what does that say? Who do you think you are? Our record right now is what it is and until that changes we can’t look at anyone as a team that can’t beat us.
“The good news is we’ve proven we can beat anybody. We’ve done that. We’ve beaten Boston, we’ve beaten Golden State, we’ve beaten Detroit. We had Houston down and in my opinion kind of, it was on a balance. You can’t say you should’ve won, I always say you could’ve won. So we’ve proven we can play against anyone.
“But we’ve also lost to Washington, who has a tough record. We’ve lost to Brookyln, that has a tough record. There’s one more, we lost to Sacramento at home, who has a tough record. And so, we have to play better every night. That starts with me. I have to get them more prepared, mentally, as much as I can.
“But, we have to own our own mess, all right? And I think that’s what we need to do and we’ve got time to do it.”
Finding a full 48 minutes
While Rivers may have leaned on the team executing and performing to its fuller capabilities on the margins, the players ultimately leaned on the fact they’ve got to be a team that gives maximum effort for as long as possible.
Kuzma and Turner said watching teams advance through the NBA Cup single-elimination games only highlighted that fact, and Portis added after the Boston win that doing a first, second and third job on a single possession is where the game has evolved to.
“Yeah, I just feel like we have to put a full 48 minutes, if we can, together, playing hard, playing the right way, moving the ball and not having spurts and drops in our games,” Rollins said Dec. 9. “I think that’s the biggest key. I think it comes with everybody kind of figuring out what that trigger is for them and just kind of making it of the betterment for the team, honestly.”
It was a point Rollins had to reiterate after practice Dec. 16, following the loss to the Nets, when it was made clear (again) that the team couldn’t overlook anyone on the schedule.
“We’re outside the playoff picture ourselves,” Turner said Dec. 17. “We gotta be one of the hungry teams. He’s absolutely right, to quote that, we’re not necessarily in the position where we can call another team good or bad with where we’re at right now in respects to what we’ve done this year. Yeah, every game for us has to be a big game at this point.”
Which is important, because after the Toronto game, the Bucks take their show on the road to play at Minnesota, Indiana, Memphis, Chicago and Charlotte before closing out the 2025 calendar against Washington at home Dec. 31.
Even without Antetokounmpo, there is a path to .500 by the new year. But first, the full 48 minutes needs to be dug out of the mud one win at a time, and then another, and then another.
“You can mope around about it, you can cry about it, or make a change or try to go towards making a change,” Gary Trent Jr. said. “Obviously that’s what we did [in practice Dec. 17]. I feel like we had a great practice, everybody was locked in. After a game like that we have no choice. Everybody needs to be locked in as one and continue to move as one.
“Obviously we know we’re better than that, but just, again, watch the film, we broke down everything that we didn’t do, down to energy, down to getting back, down to fighting off of guys, down to defensive effort, down to little boxouts, down to catching the ball. Everything. So we talked about everything on what we need to focus in and what we need to hone in on and how we can obviously make that jump to get to where we want to get to.”
Of the opponents coming up, only Minnesota has a winning record. The four teams in the East are below the Bucks in the standings, yet Charlotte already beat Milwaukee once and forced an overtime game in their other matchup. And the loss to the Wizards on Dec. 1 was supposed to be rock bottom. And, all but one of those games are away from Fiserv Forum, where the Bucks are currently 3-9.
“Shoot, I don’t think there’s many losses in NBA history like the one that we just had last game,” Porter said of the Brooklyn loss. “So, I think a loss like that wakes you up and don’t never want to be on the end of that stick. Having those days (off) and having to sit on that loss definitely makes it worse. I think we all had an eye opener and we’re ready to make sure that don’t happen again.”
