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Bucks News: Doc Rivers Confident Milwaukee’s Turnaround is Permanent

Courtney Tate

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After a dismal 2-8 start to the season, many spectators immediately counted head coach Doc Rivers and his Milwaukee Bucks out, but after a recent solid turnaround, Rivers is convinced the winning is here to stay.

"Listen, outside Milwaukee, I think a lot of people was, 'What's going on?'" Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "I don't think one person inside thought that at all. We just believed that it was going to click, it was going to happen — I would make a point of saying we assumed that. Now it is."

Giannis Antetokounmpo said his team has been committed to doing the work.

"I think we definitely had as a team a little bit more urgency, we had to fix some things," Antetokounmpo said at the Bucks practice Wednesday of the turnaround for Milwaukee. "We had to play more team basketball. We had to compete at a higher level. We had to play, we had to create better circumstances for our teammates for them to be great."

It’s one thing to fix the “x’s and o’s”, but the effort from the Bucks the fans were able to witness in the semi-final round of the NBA Cup is a great sign for the rest of the season. Seeing your team’s biggest stars getting on the floor after loose balls and sacrificing their bodies for the play is something that really gives teams the winning edge.

"You can see on that play both me and Brook went up and tried to get that block," Antetokounmpo said. "We both fell down, and that's winning plays."

The Bucks are now preparing for their biggest test of the season, the NBA Cup Championship game against the best team in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder. If you would’ve asked fans a month ago if they thought the Bucks would be competing for an in-season tournament title this season, it could possibly have ended in laughter.

Now, this is a completely different team. The Bucks showcased a well-put-together machine clicking on both ends of the floor. They were able to disrupt the flow of the Atlanta Hawks’ offense, coming up with some much-needed stops down the stretch.

Offensively, the Bucks have finally found their footing. The team’s two stars, Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard have seemingly developed the chemistry on the floor, and it’s working. The Bucks have now won 12 of their last 15 matchups, and Antetokounmpo is adamant about making sure his team continues building on this momentum.

“The job’s not done,” Antetokounmpo said.

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Courtney Tate
COURTNEY TATE

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