Health issues, banned players, and inability to beat the top teams in meetings, creating a pile of issues with Milwaukee Bucks.
The Milwaukee Bucks are upset until Damien Lillard informs him more due to a thrombotic diagnosis.
Doc Rivers was rebuttal optimistic about his team’s push-through ability, but the Bucks are already feeling the impact of the absence of a superstar guard.
On March 29th, Milwaukee received yet another hit, enduring a 116-107 home loss against the New York Knicks.
The defeat means the Bucks (40-33) are now the sixth seed team in the Eastern Conference. They dropped their rankings while losing eight of their last 12 games in the wake of the Detroit Pistons’ dramatic rise.
The Bucks were unable to win in their regular season games against the East’s current top three teams, the Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.
This is surprising for Milwaukee considering they may have to experience them in the playoffs and could face the number three Knicks in the first round. But in the end, Giannis Antetokounmpo couldn’t care much about it.
“If you have the opportunity to see (New York) in the playoffs, or anyone who sees it in the playoffs, we have to be the toughest, most troublesome team out there.
“We have to do it. That’s the only chance we can get better. We’re going to watch the film, we’ll be better.”
Giannis further explained: “I think I’ve been three times more of the first in the Eastern team and three times more of the first in the NBA team in the NBA over the past six years. I think it’s twice.
“I played against Toronto in the Eastern Conference Finals (2019) and beat 4-0 or 3-0 in the regular season. They didn’t beat us, we were number one in the East and we lost from Miami.
“At the end of the day, the only thing I think about is the regular season, nine games left, and we have two months to change our lives.
“We’re not going to think about what happened in December when we lost to the Knicks or Boston. That’s really not important. When we get into the playoffs, anything happens.”
Lillard will leave indefinitely and Antetokounmpo will bear a great burden of liability against the Bucks for the rest of the year. The Greek superstar is one of the league’s MVP candidates, averaging 30.2 points per game with 12.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per 34.0 minutes.
But only he can lift the Bucks in their desired position, as the former NBA star argued. For this reason, Antetokounmpo can only resort to Brook Lopez, Returning Bobby Portis, and several other wildcard players to help him.
As difficult as the challenge, it may be to continue pursuing a championship without a franchise guard, but Antetokounmpo is cheerful and cheerful about his team’s chances when the team is all clicking and harmonious.
“This is us,” Antetokounmpo said.
“Obviously Bobby (Portis) is back in a few games, which will help us. Jericho (Sims) will come back and be bigger to give Brooke a break.
“We have to continue watching the film as a team and try to come together and find a way to win the game.”