The Milwaukee Bucks shocked everyone by firing Head Coach Adrian Griffin with 43 games into the season. In another surprising move, they hired Doc Rivers as a replacement a few days later on 26th January. To say that things haven’t been going well for the team would be an understatement. January 29 marked Rivers’ first game as the Bucks’ HC against the Denver Nuggets, resulting in a 113-107 loss.

Their most recent game was against the Miami Heat, who dealt the team another severe blow amounting to a 123-97 loss. The Bucks have lost six of their last nine games, ever since Rivers came onboard and this has been a concern for many. However, according to 3X NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, the player who has been affected the most is PG Damian Lillard.

Gilbert Arenas asserts that Griffin would’ve done things differently

In an episode of his show Gil’s Arena, Gilbert points out, “Docs’ offense is not meant for the point guard.” This, according to him, has been the cause of Dame’s downfall ever since Rivers came around. So, on the whole situation, he says, “This is your fault, so f*** off.” In fact, Gilbert believes that if it was Adrian in place of Rivers, he would have understood that the way Giannis scores his shots is not “structured” in any way, “so that means your offense should be geared around more Dame knowing that Giannis is going to find a way to score.”

Gibby also adds that Rivers should let “Dame be Dame” without trying to ruin his game. He solidifies his statement by saying, “There’s no Dame-Time, this is Doc-Time,” meaning that Rivers has taken over Dame’s game, and constricted his shots. In the meantime, Doc Rivers has been more concerned about another aspect of the team.

Working on the defense

After the tough defeat at the hands of the Heat, Doc Rivers came out saying that the Bucks need to focus on their defense instead of anything else. “I think right now, what our team is, we get our personality from the offensive end. And we don’t want that. We want to get our personality from the defense…Tonight, you could just see it,” the Championship winning Coach said. The frustration was justified because the Bucks allowed the Heat 51% field goals and contributed an astounding 18 turnovers in the game.

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Offensively, the Bucks were doing good before Griffin was let go. After Rivers was brought in, the consensus was that he’d prioritize the defense. But he has also been making an effort to improve offensively by trying to utilize the Giannis-Dame duo but has been having trouble getting it to work. It could take some time to find the rhythm but time is of the essence and he needs to make a move quickly.

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