Before the Milwaukee Bucks took the court against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, coach Doc Rivers said he wasn't pleased with their offense in the game that preceded it, a 133-122 loss in Chicago. "Even though we had a lot of points the other night, I didn't think we had a very good offensive game," Rivers said at Barclays Center. "Sometimes, that can fool you."
Rivers thought the Bucks had helped the Bulls out with their shot selection and turnovers. He wanted to see better decision-making in Brooklyn. What he ended up watching, though, was even worse. Milwaukee turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter and 18 times in the game, allowing the Nets to dominate the possession game. The team scored a dismal 103 points per 100 possessions. It was out-rebounded by a much smaller team and out-executed by a much younger one.
"Tonight, it was clear it was our offense," Rivers said after the 115-102 loss. "We have to do something to free guys up better offensively. We're forcing. Taking a lot of tough shots. The ball's not moving. And we don't have enough space. So, our execution was poor. That's all on me. I gotta figure it out."
Repeatedly, Rivers said that the Bucks were "not playing right." He called this "very disappointing," as he thought they'd had a good training camp. Giannis Antetokounmpo, their franchise player, went further: He said, "We need to find ourselves," and added that they "don't have an identity." Milwaukee is only three games into the season and Khris Middleton hasn't played in any of them, but there is some urgency here.
"It doesn't matter if it's Game 1, Game 3, Game 50," Antetokounmpo said. "We gotta keep coming together as a team, keep on taking care of the ball, keep on being aggressive, find ways to play faster. I think we are too stagnant. We are playing too slow."
In contrast, Bucks star Damian Lillard said that they have to be "more patient" instead of allowing teams to "speed us up." Both of them, though, attributed their offensive issues to poor execution against ball pressure. Both Brooklyn and Chicago picked their ballhandlers up early and defended them aggressively, in an effort to make them uncomfortable.
Three of Milwaukee's most frustrating offensive possessions came with less than five minutes to go in the game. At this point, the Nets had firmly taken control of the game with a 15-1 run, but it was not yet completely out of reach.
First, Lillard rejected a screen from Antetokounmpo and got into the paint, but Cam Johnson deflected his kickout pass.
That turnover led to a layup for Johnson, after which the Bucks almost turned it over again on an inbounds pass. They recovered the ball, but the ensuing possession ended in extremely ugly fashion: with forward Taurean Prince stuck in the corner, pressured by Johnson, bricking a 3 to avoid a shot clock violation.
Lillard then went for a stepback 3 against Johnson in isolation. The zero-pass possession might be forgivable in this case -- Milwaukee needed points as quickly as possible -- but the shot was way off.
The problem, as Lillard put it, is that the Bucks are "not making teams work on our offensive end the way they're making us work when we're on defense." In other words, they're letting their opponents off the hook on one end, then putting themselves at a disadvantage on the other.
"It's kind of like a perpetual motion machine on both sides," center Brook Lopez said. "Right? Both sides are feeding the other right now, and it's not great."
Four years ago, Milwaukee also started the season 1-2, and its third regular-season game was also an uninspiring loss in New York City. That team went on to win the championship. This start, then, is far from damning. The Bucks clearly miss Middleton, the new guys are still adjusting -- multiple passes intended for Prince and Gary Trent. Jr in the corner went out of bounds in Brooklyn -- and the bench units are not working. It is not encouraging that a team built around Antetokounmpo and Lillard is struggling to find a rhythm offensively, but this can and should change.
On Monday, Milwaukee will visit the defending-champion Boston Celtics, who have been scorching to start the season. The Celtics will pressure the Bucks' ballhandlers, switch screens and try to coax them into tough jumpers. Depending on your perspective, the timing of this matchup is either terrific or terrible. On the one hand, it is an opportunity to bounce back in the strongest way possible and flip this early-season storyline on its head. On the other, if Milwaukee doesn't clean things up offensively, then it's probably going to find itself scrambling all over the place and giving up open 3s, which is exactly what you can't do against Boston.
"We gotta be on point with that," Lillard said. "Or, you know, they'll kill you with it."