The Milwaukee Bucks’ first playoff game of 2025 did not go as planned.
The Indiana Pacers won the opening game of the playoff series with the Milwaukee Bucks persuasive 117-98.
In the case of the Bucks, Game 1 is remembered for Kyil Kuzma’s miserable performance. The former Wizard star scored 0 points and also scored 0 points for rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
Kuzma argued that he has a more clear idea that he must be more aggressive in Game 2, and that the Bucks also claim that the return of Damien Lillard could be boosted.
Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers defended Kyle Kuzma’s performance against the Pacers. He felt the team should do better in terms of bringing Kuzma into a scoring position.
These comments were pretty much shaking when Kuzma was discussed in the first take, with Shannon Sharp hitting with the Bucks head coach.
Sharp asked: “Who’s the coach? How about dialing a play to get him the ball? Let’s say it’s difficult to score when you don’t have the ball.
“What about rebounds? What about assists? What about blocks? What about stealing?
“I’m confused about the doc. You’re the head coach and you’re complaining about the guy that’s supposed to be the X-factor. Isn’t that Dock Rivers job not like that when he sees his guy struggling and he’s schematizing the play to get the ball and get a simple shot?
“He didn’t score, but we need documentation to explain why he didn’t rebound, why he didn’t get an assist, why he didn’t steal, why he didn’t get a blocked shot in 22 minutes.”
Stephen A. Smith disagrees with Shannon Sharp’s takeout from Dock Rivers’ comments and believes the Bucks head coach is defending Kyle Kuzma and removing the fever from him.
“There’s no excuse for this,” Stephen A. Smith laid out, directing his anger at Kyle Kuzma.
He believes Kyle Kuzma’s 22 minutes in court is well below the season average.
“Come to Kyle Kuzma. Here’s how Dock Rivers knows that it’s great in the post game, rather than telling it in the post game. Kuzma averaged nearly 32 minutes in the game since he arrived in Milwaukee… he only played 22 minutes.
“It tells you that you need to know how Doc Rivers felt he was doing.
“Why should you cut his minutes by 10, you obviously saw how lethargic and ineffective he is.