Bucks' Doc Rivers Calls Out 'Mental Mistakes' That Led to Nets Loss

Matt Levine | 18 Hours Ago

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The Milwaukee Bucks dropped a very frustrating game to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night, handing Milwaukee an 11-105 defeat. The Bucks were playing this game without the services of both star guard Damian Lillard and star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Read more: Giannis Misses Another Game, Lillard Injury Update, Big Trade Proposal

However, Milwaukee felt that they had the talent needed to win this game. Forward Khris Middleton did suit up for this contest but it just wasn't enough to grab the win.

After the fact, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers called out his team for the mental mistakes and turnovers that they had. It was a sloppy game for Milwaukee and resulted in them dropping a game that they likely should have won.

“I thought for two and a half quarters, even though they were pressuring, we were moving the ball. The ball was swinging around the floor, getting guys wide open,” Rivers said. “Then I thought it sped us up and everybody was going one-on-one. We just can’t have that many turnovers and mental mistakes.”

Even forward Bobby Portis Jr. weighed in on the loss, saying he believed that they should have won the game.

“We were up, we had momentum, they jumped on us in the fourth quarter, got momentum and we didn’t recover. It’s that simple. The turnovers in the first quarter, or second or third quarter, didn’t determine what happened to start the fourth. We gotta be better as a team. We should’ve won the game, point blank and simple. We should’ve won that game. But we lost and now we move on.”

Credit goes to the Nets as they stormed back to snatch defeat from the Bucks. But Milwaukee will need to do a better job going forward to not allow things like this to occur.

While both Lillard and Antetokounmpo did miss this game, there won't be any excuses coming from this team. Milwaukee has the talent to be able to win these types of games and they have done well without their stars this season.

This was simply a case of the Bucks taking their foot off the gas and the Nets making them pay for it. Milwaukee will get another chance to get back into the win column when they take on the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.

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