As explosive as the Milwaukee Bucks’ offense has been this season, their defense is an entirely different story. Milwaukee gives up over 119 points per game, which ranks 24th in the league. While a little better, their defensive rating of 116.5 still ranks in the bottom 10 of the Association at 22nd place.
While the Bucks’ offensive capabilities can cover up their defensive deficiencies in most games, superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo knows that it’s not a sustainable strategy. After the Bucks gave up a whopping 142 points in Wednesday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, Giannis emphasized the importance of taking pride in playing defense and not relying on their offense to bail them out every game.
Pride and effort
Getting down on defense is no mean feat. It requires a combination of physical ability, mental focus, and sheer determination. But for the Bucks, it’s not just about having the talent and skills to play good defense—it’s about having the pride and effort to do so consistently.
As Giannis puts it, “I’ve been a part of a few teams that have been No. 1 in defense, but at the end of the day, it’s all about pride and effort. If you have no pride and you don’t put no effort in it, you don’t get no results. At times, I think we have a lot of pride because we know that we are extremely good and we play hard, and at times, we don’t.”
Have to find consistency
In that regard, Giannis is batting for consistency from his team on that end of the floor. This means having the same intensity and effort every game, regardless of the opponent or the situation. It also means maintaining focus and discipline on defensive assignments, rotations, and communication.
“You gotta figure out a way how can you just keep that engine going for longer. But again, the sky’s the limit, I believe, if we lock in as a team and figure out that we cannot let a team score 140 points on us, and we’re trying to score 142. You cannot be consistent that way. So we have to be able to guard. We have to do a better job guarding,” the one-time Defensive Player of the Year said.
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