Following a blowout defeat against the Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo addressed the team’s defensive shortcomings and emphasized the need to decouple defensive performance from offensive struggles.
Antetokounmpo’s comments came in response to Bucks head coach Doc Rivers’ observation that offensive turnovers adversely impacted defensive execution during the game against the Warriors.
“I think they had like 20 points over our turnovers. We cannot allow our offense to dictate our defense,” Antetokounmpo asserted. “At the end of the day, we got to be better. They scored 125 points. In the half they had 78.
“In the first six minutes of the third quarter I think we came aggressive, being physical, making them shoot tough shot. And in the first couple of minutes they had like five to eight points, I don’t remember. But we get back to the game. After that moment the ball is not moving, everybody’s not touching, everybody’s not getting energy. Now our defense is not as a good.”
Despite the loss, Antetokounmpo expressed optimism about the team’s overall performance, noting that they had played well in previous games and remained focused on improvement.
“It’s one game. I think we’ve played six and a half good games. We have another one. We have three in this road trip. Got to go to the next one, hopefully we can be locked in, play better, move the ball better and win the game,” he said.
