The Milwaukee Bucks may be the second seed in the Eastern Conference with a 47-29 record, but they know they have several things to address before the postseason starts.
One is their consistency, particularly on the road since they are on a two-game losing streak and lost four of their last five games. The 117-113 road loss against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday was one of the most humiliating defeats they’ve suffered this year, and head coach Doc Rivers called out the whole team after the match.
“I don’t know. I think focus. You know, it’s funny, I’ve actually been sitting back and watching everything. Not just our players, but our travel crew, everything and I’ve made a lot of notes. I will say that, I won’t share that,” Rivers said about the Milwaukee Bucks’ road woes via Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
“But we don’t bring the necessary professionalism, seriousness on the road. And that’s something that we’re going to have to fix.”
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After losing their latest road game to Washington, the Milwaukee Bucks suffered another defeat to a lottery-bound team, the shorthanded Memphis Grizzlies, 111-101 on Wednesday.
Without Damian Lillard, the Milwaukee Bucks needed a solid outing from Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, the two-time league MVP only had 21 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the field, and it was clear that his hamstring injury was bothering him.
“I thought Giannis did everything he could,” Rivers said. “Honestly, and I’m not kidding, there were times at the beginning of the third. I talked to Scott (Faust) three different times.”
“I wanted to take him out of the game. I thought he was running on fumes. As a coach, you gotta make a judgment call sometimes and medical makes the call more. He (Antetokounmpo) kept asking to go back in and trainers said he was fine, so we kind of stuck there. But I wish I would have just said no, honestly,” the Milwaukee Bucks head coach added.
The Milwaukee Bucks were 30-13 under Adrian Griffin, who was dismissed in January. Since Doc Rivers took charge at the helm, the team has gone 15-15. They are 18-20 on the road this season and have two more road games against the Orlando Magic and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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