DENVER — Although they kept the suspense on the road against the defending champions, the Milwaukee Bucks struggled in head coach Doc Rivers' coaching debut, losing 107-113 to the Nuggets on Monday night (local time).
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 29 points, 12 rebounds and four assists, while Brook Lopez contributed 19 points and shot 3-of-5 from three-point range. Damian Lillard (18 points, five assists) and Chris Middleton (14 points, eight rebounds) were also double-digit scorers for the Bucks, but the Bucks struggled on the offensive end against the Nuggets' defense.
We did well defensively in the half," Rivers said. "We fought hard tonight. I think tonight was an offensive defeat. I don't think we're sharp on the offensive end. There were times when the ball was in motion, the team was active, and then there were times when it wasn't. We need to clean up those slots. But overall, I'm very satisfied. ”
Monday's loss was a stark difference to the Bucks' performance in the first 43 games under Adrian Griffin, who was fired last week. Under Griffin's leadership, the team performed well offensively (second in offensive efficiency), while the defensive side was poor, dropping to 22nd in defensive efficiency until Griffin was fired.
For Rivers, the team's defensive performance against a top-10 offensive team sent a clear message to the new coach.
"I tell our players that anyone who tells you you can't defend is lying," Rivers said. You proved it tonight. You're competing tonight. ”
In the eyes of the Bucks' two-time MVP, this should be the standard for a new era of Bucks basketball.
Sometimes you lose, but in order to win at a high level, there has to be a standard," Antetokounmpo said. "Today, I think we set the standard as a team. ......We are absolutely capable of defending and going forward, we have no excuse not to defend. ”
The Bucks aren't perfect on the defensive end. Nikola Jokic contributed a triple-double of 25 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists, and his partner Jamal Murray contributed 35 points and five assists, but the Bucks felt they were putting Jokic and Nuggets up the ground on the offensive end. Jokic needed 25 shots to score his 25 points, and while Murray was outstanding, the Bucks managed to limit the performance of other Nuggets players.
On the offensive end, things look more like a process in progress. Before the game, Rivers talked about his hope to see the Bucks' duo Antetokounmpo and Lillard improve under his leadership and guidance.
"It's always been effective, but in my opinion, it's supposed to be dominant," Rivers said. Today we did a lot of training with two people. You probably won't see a lot tonight, but obviously, I think the whole team understood what we did after 20 minutes. It's important to us. There is also Chris's trio cooperation. And Chris. This is also important. ”
While the Bucks have been excellent at finishing games all season and have the league's fourth-best crunch net score, they struggled on Monday and were scoreless for the first two minutes of crunch time. After Lopez hit a long-range three-pointer to tie the score to 98-97, the Bucks made two mistakes in a row and then missed a three-pointer, which sent the Nuggets on an 8-0 comeback and the Bucks never took the lead again.
After the game, Rivers explained how to get his players in the right position on the offensive end and find the right synergy between key players.
I am delighted with our development. Rivers said. 'I just knew there was going to be a rough time, especially in attack. I had to turn to Joe (Plante) and DJ (Buckle) a lot because I would say, 'That play, that Bobby......It's going to take a little while.
I mean, I've watched our attacks 50 times in the last two days, but it's going to take time to find the right rhythm to make the right adjustments. A lot of us scored after the timeout. That's my tactic, but I'd rather score through our regular way because they know the second and third options for those tactics. ”
Throughout the process, Rivers has been giving a candid assessment of the situation and telling his new team that it is difficult to join a mid-season team with a problematic balance on both ends of the floor.
Before the game, Rivers admitted that his coaching staff would be an important part of the process of the tactics that the Bucks have already established, and that players can also help and inform their terminology and related tactics while establishing their new identities!
Normally you don't see that, but we're a mature team and luckily they can help him with the tactics that we run in the game and the tactics that we like to run at some point in the game, and he's going to tweak that and give us some new tactics and some other tactics for us to think about and execute, so I'm really excited about the process. ”
This process needs to continue at a rapid pace, as the Bucks will play the Trail Blazers on Wednesday. This will be Lillard's first return to Portland since being traded to Milwaukee.