The Milwaukee Bucks sent shockwaves through the NBA world after firing first-time Adrian Griffin mid-season, despite his impressive 30-13 start to the season. They replaced him with a much-experienced coach, Doc Rivers, who has a championship and 1100 victories under his belt. However, things haven’t gone as the Bucks envisioned. After a strong start under Griffin, the Bucks have gone frigid with a 3-7 slide since Rivers took over, slipping to third in the Eastern Conference with a 35-21 record entering the All-Star break.

In a recent interview with Eric Nehm of The Athletic, Giannis Antetokounmpo bared the underlying reasons for the challenging times the team is currently facing. “It’s been hard because so many changes, so many injuries, so, so many things. A lot of things, up and down. Changes, as I said, game plan, structure, all of the BS,” Antetokounmpo stated. Indeed, the Bucks season has been mired in instability.

Right before the playoffs last season, Haslam Sports Group took over as the new owner. Then, a few weeks later, the team underwent another huge transformation, parting ways with head coach Mike Budenholzer. After a month of firing Budenholzer, the Bucks officially replaced him with head coach Adrian Griffin on June 5, 2023. And now, once again, they have a new coach—their fourth since May.

Apart from ownership and coaching, the Bucks also shook up their roster in the offseason. They roped in Damian Lillard in exchange for Jrue Holiday, which caused their defense to crumble. And while their offense was expected to put the league on notice, that simply has not been the case. Since Rivers took charge, the Bucks have scored just 111.9 points per 100 possessions. This is a significant drop from the 120.6 mark they had under Griffin.

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Moreover, injuries have also played a part in the inconsistent performances. However, despite these changes, their current roster has enough talent to prevent them from dropping in the standings just when the regular season is reaching its final stretch. But Giannis isn’t the only one making up excuses for his team.

Doc Rivers blames the players for the loss vs. the Memphis Grizzlies

After the Bucks suffered a humbling 110-113 defeat at the hands of the injury-ridden, lottery-bound Memphis Grizzlies, Doc Rivers was quick to dodge the blame for their brutal loss before the All-Star break. Instead of taking accountability for the loss, he instead hammered his team members for the setback. He pointed out, “First play of the game, we gamble for the 50th time in the corner. Guy drives, we have to help, leads to a 3. On our set, two guys forget what we’re running. Then we missed a shot and nobody gets back. That’s how we start out the third quarter. That tells you all you need to know about where our heads were. We had some guys here, we had some guys in Cabo.”

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However, considering that he took over the team mid-season, we can cut him some slack. But after losing to a team that had most of its key players out of the lineup, the Bucks have a lot to ponder if they still harbor title aspirations. Hopefully, after this eight-day break, they’ll be able to get back in the winning column when they take on the West-leading Minnesota Timberwolves on February 23.

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