The streaking Bucks have turned their season around
When the Bucks took a 110-100 lead over the Clippers Monday night, Patrick Beverley and Bobby Portis celebrated like they had just won the NBA Championship. Their outpouring of emotions was reciprocated by the 17,875 fans at Fiserv Forum, who, too, understood the significance of the win.
Without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the Bucks had just pulled off one of their most impressive victories of the season, extending their winning streak to six since the All-Star break. The Doc Rivers-led team has played some inspired basketball since the break, banking on the sort of defensive tenacity that was sorely missing under the previous coaching staff led by Adrian Griffin.
For all the criticism Rivers has dealt with, he has flipped the script with regards to his once-struggling Bucks. Since Rivers took over the team on Jan. 29, the Bucks have the fifth-best defensive rating in the league (109.6) and the best (102.6) since the All-Star break.
Prior to the 113-106 win over the Clippers, the Bucks kept their opponents to under 100 points in four consecutive games -- an incredible feat in the modern NBA where teams average over 115 a night. While they've traded in offense for defense -- with their offensive rating slipping from 120.1 to 115.5 -- the Bucks have made a concerted effort to get back to the fundamentals rather than relying on the formula of outscoring opponents. The strategy involves a lot more switching while keeping Brook Lopez in drop coverage -- a near 180 from Griffin's defensive scheme. Damian Lillard, who's never been known for his defensive prowess, acknowledges that the strategy is working.
"Defensively, we've trusted our communication," Lillard said after the win over the Clippers. "We've depended on the next guy to do his job, and the same offensively. Our team is seeing the results that we're getting from playing that way, even when it's not going our way at points in the game, we trust it. It's just coming back in our favor."
While some would disregard the Bucks' resurgence as a mini hot streak, the upcoming stretch of games could determine if they are truly a threat to the Celtics' stranglehold over the East. Over the next few weeks, the Bucks will be tested against the Warriors, Lakers, Clippers again, Sixers, Suns and Celtics.
More must-reads: