The Milwaukee Bucks go winless for a third time to start the year. Not able to withstand the Pacers’ back-to-back matches, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. managed to get the better of the rebuilding Spurs. But the luck didn’t extend tonight against the Houston Rockets. Despite landing his seventh straight double-double in a breathtaking 48 points, 17 rebounds game, the ‘Brew City’ lost 108-112 to Houston.

Unimpressed with his team’s performance, the ‘Greek Freak’ took center stage to address their issues; namely, defense. When asked about what they could do to overcome it, Giannis had a one-word answer.

Pride. Not sure if we got the importance, Antetokounmpo repeated the same word four times. “Pride. Pride. Pride. Pride. We gotta take it personal,” he emphasized.

While the Bucks struggled on the defense, the Rockets capitalized on it. Houston took control of the game early on, but failed to withstand the second half of Bucks’ unforgiving shots. Even so, a game-winning three-pointer from Jabari Smith Jr., assisted by Alperen Sengun, gave way to a brilliant win.

It is clear from Giannis’ statsheet that Texas had a hard time controlling the Milwaukee star. But that didn’t stop them from limiting other players like Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton. Talking about the tough call, Ime Udoka says, “We can live with one guy going off as long as we keep everybody else under wraps… Giannis is a tough one. You’ve got to pick your poison at times.” 

He further points out that this strategy of theirs has provided remarkable results throughout the season. But what about the Bucks?

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Giannis Antetokounmpo hails everybody to be “better”

While he addressed his teammates primarily, the entire franchise caught strays from his admonition. “We have to be better,” he stated. “It starts from the equipment manager — he has to wash our clothes better. The bench has to be better, the leaders of the team have to be more vocal, we have to make more shots, we have to defend better, we have to have a better strategy, we have to be better.”

Answering Athletic’s beat reporter for the Bucks, Eric Nehm, Giannis stressed on the importance of “defensive effort”. The success that the ‘Bayou City’ saw was thanks to their defense. Coach Adrian Griffin admitted that the Rockets‘ defensive skills are what got them the win against a charged second-half Bucks.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo further explained that the kind of game the team played in the second half is who they are. Unfortunately, they didn’t start the matchup with that kind of mindset. The young big man points out that relying solely on offense to “score 130, 140 points” every time is not practical. Standing in the 20th position with a defensive rating of 116.5, Giannis’ reasons make sense.

Hopefully, they can do better as Milwaukee hosts the Utah Jazz next.

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