There’s a difference in opinion in Milwaukee. The disconnect between the Bucks’ sidelines and the floor isn’t just visible in a game. Doc Rivers’ tactical perspective is seemingly not matching what his players, including the star of his team, are saying. Giannis Antetokounmpo took the stance of the locker room leader even though it contrasted with that of his head coach. Yet Rivers is sticking to his guns.

Especially after a third consecutive loss and the second blowout. After the Spurs beat the Bucks 119-101, Doc Rivers was going to insist that the NBA schedule is the problem.

Asked about Giannis refuting the ‘dead legs’ excuse in Tuesday’s (January 13) game, Rivers countered, “I thought Minnesota was clearly dead legs.”

He believes the same played a part tonight. “Let me say this, before the game, if you had told us we shot 48 threes, what would you have thought? Yeah, and we probably won the game, or at least had a chance to win. We didn’t make them. I can’t overdo that.”

Rivers makes 49 threes sound better than they were. The Bucks made 17 of the 48 three-point attempts. Kyle Kuzma made the most with 5 threes. Rivers once again pulled his starters out and utilized all 15 players in the rotation. Yet nothing worked.

Between the 33-point loss to the Wolves and tonight, the Bucks have lost back-to-back games with a combined margin of over 54 points. That’s the largest margin over two games for the franchise since 1983. It effectively signals a mid-season slump and a disparity between the coach and the players.

Doc Rivers and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Bucks’ standing

On Tuesday, Doc Rivers blamed the Bucks’ blowout loss at home on their road trip in the Western Conference. “I honestly thought we were playing with dead legs,” he said and blamed it on the NBA’s grueling schedule. It’s something coaches have been decrying for a while but usually the players don’t comment on it.

Giannis Antetokounmpo instead contradicted his coach. “I don’t think it’s dead legs. Come on… that cannot be an excuse,” he said in the locker room. Repeated it thrice in fact. He even said they got to rest before that game.

The Greek Freak did his part and scored 25 points that game. But he believed the team needed to put more effort into winning. He demanded accountability from his teammates and improvement.

Meanwhile, Rivers seems to be externalizing the cause of Milwaukee’s slump. In the loss against Denver, he attributed it to players not listening to his plays. Meanwhile, he’s growing wary of the burden on Giannis to carry the team.

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The Bucks now sit 17-24, dropping further in play-in contention behind the Chicago Bulls, the only other team doing worse than them. The Bucks are getting rained with boos from the home crowd while the head coach finds himself in fundamental disagreement with players about the team’s problem.