The Milwaukee Bucks sleepwalked through another defeat on Friday night, this time a 116-94 blowout at the hands of the New York Knicks, who led by as many as 30 along the way. Long after the game, a frustrated Giannis Antetokounmpo called his team out for its lack of effort and made it clear these kinds of performances are not acceptable.
"We gotta compete," Antetokounmpo said. "We gotta do a better job competing. At the end of the day, coming to New York, playing the way we're playing, teams will not just give us games. Teams will not feel bad about us and just don't compete.
We have to come out with the mentality that we have to compete for every possession, one possession at a time, every ball, every loose ball. Whenever the ball is on the floor we gotta get our body on the floor and try to get that ball. Put our body on the line. We gotta do a better job competing. We didn't compete at all."
After a chaotic 2023-24 season that ended with another injury-influenced first-round playoff exit, the Bucks hoped they could get back on top this season. The thinking went like this: they had a full offseason with Doc Rivers, Damian Lillard was in better shape and more comfortable, they signed reliable veterans to fix some of their deficiencies, they were healthy, and, of course, Antetokounmpo was still at the peak of his powers.
Lillard looks much better, and Antetokounmpo is still dominant on both ends of the floor, but nothing else has fallen into place. Khris Middleton, whom the team expected to be ready for opening night, still hasn't played as he recovers from offseason ankle surgeries. The supporting cast, particularly the bench, has been a disaster. Bobby Portis is the only player besides Antetokounmpo and Lillard averaging double figures, and he's doing so on 49.6% true shooting. The defense is still a complete mess as they look old and slow and out of place in the modern NBA.
At 2-7, the Bucks are tied for the third-worst record in the league, and the only teams they've beaten are the two below them in the standings: the Philadelphia 76ers without Joel Embiid and Paul George and a Utah Jazz team that is blatantly playing Capture the (Cooper) Flagg.
It appears it's going to be a long season in Milwaukee, but Antetokounmpo does not want to see his team go down without a fight.
"If you're not going to go out there and compete, you're not going to win the game," Antetokounmpo said. "Sometimes you compete your ass off, and you don't win the game. But at least give yourself a chance.
"Doc is doing his best. He's trying to figure out the rotation. … I give him props on that. At the end of the day, the guys that play, we got to go out there and compete. He cannot compete from the sidelines for us. We've got Boston in two days. If we don't compete, we're gonna lose by 30."
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