Well, this likely wouldn’t have occurred if Giannis had been on the court. The Bucks’ superstar arrived at Fiserv Forum fully decked out in Minion attire, leading everyone—and even Doc Rivers—to believe Steph Curry would face a challenging Halloween matchup. However, Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out due to left knee soreness approximately 30 minutes before tip-off. Doc Rivers quickly adjusted his strategy, and his plays without an MVP ended the Warriors’ winning streak with a 120-110 victory for the Bucks. A key win for the team’s morale even without key players.

As Giannis got his first DNP of the 2025-26 season, Doc Rivers revealed what his mindset was when he received the news. “Yeah, honestly, I didn’t even know,” he said in the post-game presser. “I knew they came in and told me he was out. I don’t even know what it is, so.”

That close to tip-off, the HC had no time to check in on Giannis. So he didn’t have a confirmed status report for the media at the moment. “It was so late, I was scrambling trying to figure out what we were going to do. I still didn’t ask, so maybe we can get you the information.”

The part after getting an injury report on Giannis was just as much as a blur to him apparently. Rivers had to be reminded that he heavily leaned on Ryan Rollins without the Greek Freak. And what a payoff that was!

It was a career night for Rollins who had a game-high 32 points with 3 rebounds, 8 assists and just one turnover in 36 minutes. That one turnover had Doc getting in Rollins’ head, as he told the reporters, to restrain himself before he got himself out of the game.

Rollins was laser-focused for the rest of the game, hitting jumpers while fending off Draymond Green. He outplayed Stephen Curry who had 27 points for the Warriors.

The reporters also reminded Doc that he wasn’t entirely out of his depth. After all, he has been preparing the team for situations where Giannis wouldn’t be on the court.

The Bucks had a shot to adapt without Giannis

Before that Knicks drama which shook the Bucks dynamic – while it’s still reeling from losing Damian Lillard too – the team and its head coach got a real taste of what it could be like without Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Over a month ago, he came down with COVID-19 while in Greece, just three weeks after leading the national team to bronze at Eurobasket 2025. He missed training camp with the team and when he did return, he admitted he was not 100% yet.

Giannis had to sit out preseason and get some major conditioning with non-contact work to be ready for the season opener. Though it was concerning, Doc saw an upside. “The key to our team every year is the minutes when Giannis is off the floor,” Rivers said. “So, we’ve been working on that. And so maybe that’ll help us in the long run.”

The press reminded Doc of his comments at training camp that came true in a real game today. Doc didn’t tell his team about Giannis’ DNP and they responded the way he wanted.”We didn’t blink, you know?” Doc said today.

“I didn’t mention it. I walked in and just said, ‘Kuz [Kyle Kuzma], you’re at the four.’ Didn’t mention it. You can see Kuz. As a matter of fact, it’s we’re just gonna play, just keep playing. I hate mentioning when guys are out, ‘cuz then they start thinking about it. So, I told our coaches when we’re going over the game plan, just go over the game plan. Didn’t change anything. And I thought that helped him, you know, just come out and play.”

Kuzma had 10 points and Myles Turner had 17 points with 7 rebounds. So his team did listen and adapt. And it sounds like not having Giannis puts Doc in a horse-in-tacks mode where nothing else but winning matters.