Damian Lillard laments the Milwaukee Bucks' efforts on both ends of the floor

The Bucks couldn’t do anything right against the Kings.

Jonas Panerio | Mar 13, 2024

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Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks went to the Golden 1 Center not as sharp as they should have been and got blown out by the Sacramento Kings, 129-94, to end their road trip with a dismal 1-3 record. After the game, Bucks superstar guard Damian Lillard assessed that they didn’t play well enough on both ends of the floor, which resulted in a lopsided result.

Couldn’t execute on offense

In the first quarter, the Bucks played like they had just gotten out of bed and let the Kings build momentum. Sacramento made eight three-pointers in the first alone, and though they held only a 38-30 lead after that stretch, their confidence was evident.

They tacked on 37 points in the second quarter and never looked back. Lillard noted that the Bucks’ inability to make shots paved the way for the Kings to get easy buckets in transition where Milwaukee’s defense wasn’t set.

“We just weren’t sharp enough, so they got off to a good start,” Lillard said.

“We also knew that to kind of take them out of transition and being able to play with that pace that they play with, we had to play good offense and execute so they weren’t just getting it off the rim, pushing it at us and our defense was kind of off balance.”

Swipa steal ➡️ Swipa SLAM 👑 pic.twitter.com/BZwafhToHw
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 13, 2024

Offense was stuck in neutral

Dame noted that the Bucks didn’t do the things that allowed them to win six straight prior to this road trip. That failure to execute on offense allowed the Kings to control the game from start to finish.

“We just didn’t play good offense either. The ball didn’t move. We didn’t do the things that we’ve been doing when we’ve played well for each other, the extra passes, the screening, our execution where we’re just kind of leaning on each other. We weren’t good at that on either end of the floor,” Lillard shared.